European markets are trading cautiously this morning as the quarterly financial results of European companies are not impressive, nor are their forecasts for future business.
The FTSEurofirst index of 300 leading European stocks was unchanged at 1,154 points at 9:30 AM compared to yesterday, when it fell by 0.7 percent. The London FTSE, Frankfurt DAX, and Paris CAC indices were down about 0.1 percent at 9:30 AM.
After the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk underperformed with its business results yesterday, this morning the Dutch navigation device manufacturer TomTom disappointed investors by lowering its business forecasts for this year.
However, analysts consider the recent decline in stock prices as merely a pause in the upward trend, rather than the beginning of a serious price correction.
– “Markets are short-term exhausted, they have run out of fuel. However, I believe that investors will use any price drop to buy stocks because they need to invest in something,” says Lex van Dam, portfolio manager at Hampstead Capital.
On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei index jumped 1.9 percent this morning to 11,369 points, close to its highest level in 33 months.
