European Markets Finished Mostly Lower As Wall Street Struggles

(RTTNews) - The European markets struggled to find direction for the bulk of Tuesday's session. Investors were in a cautious mood ahead of the European Central Bank September policy meeting, which is scheduled to take place on Thursday. The majority of the European markets ended the day in the red following a late day sell-off.

The early struggles on Wall Street had a negative impact on Europe, after the U.S. markets returned to action following Monday's Labor Day holiday. The losses accelerated in Europe after the release of the weaker than expected ISM non-manufacturing report.

The reversal in crude oil prices was another factor that contributed to the negative performance in Europe. Investors initially reacted positively to the news that an unofficial agreement by Saudi Arabia and Russia had been reached to help stabilize oil prices. Crude oil prices rose to around $45 a barrel in early trade, before slipping back to around $44 a barrel.

The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index weakened by 0.29 percent. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks decreased 0.24 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, lost 0.46 percent.

The DAX of Germany climbed 0.14 percent, but the CAC 40 of France fell 0.24 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. declined 0.78 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished lower by 0.07 percent.

In Frankfurt, Fresenius increased 6.11 percent after the health-care provider agreed to acquire IDC Salud Holding S.L.U., Spain's largest private hospital operator, for 5.76 billion euros on a cash and debt-free basis.

Bayer gained 1.78 percent. The pharmaceutical and crops manufacturer has raised its offer for Monsanto to $65bn or $127.50 a share.

U.S. company General Electric announced Tuesday its plans to acquire Sweden's Arcam AB and Germany's SLM Solutions Group AG, suppliers of equipment for additive manufacturing, also called 3D printing, for $1.4 billion. SLM shares surged 40.85 percent in Frankfurt and Arcam shares soared 53.23 percent in Stockholm.

In Paris, Airbus Group rose 1.00 percent after signing deals worth $6.5 billion with Vietnam carriers.

Payments firm Ingenico Group tumbled 13.61 percent after slashing its full-year targets amid temporary market decline in the U.S.

In London, International Consolidated Airlines Group advanced 1.68 percent and easyJet climbed 1.68 percent after reporting increases in August passenger traffic.

Redrow soared 9.29 percent. The homebuilder has proposed a 67 percent increase in its full year dividend after reporting a 23 percent increase in pre-tax profits for 12 months ended June.

Berkeley Group rose 3.46 percent after reiterating its profit guidance through to 2018.

Lender Standard Chartered dropped 2.96 percent after Barclays cut its rating on the stock.

Likewise, Provident Financial lost 1.35 percent after a price target downgrade from RBC Capital Markets.

Aegon declined 2.04 percent in Amsterdam after it announced that Chief Financial Officer Darryl Button will leave the company on December 1, 2016.

Eurozone economy expanded as estimated in the second quarter on foreign demand, but the pace of growth weakened from the first quarter, a report from Eurostat showed Tuesday. The economy grew 0.3 percent sequentially in the second quarter, slower than the revised 0.5 percent expansion seen in the first three months of the year.

Germany's factory orders recovered in July as the weakness in domestic demand was offset by strong foreign orders. Factory orders grew 0.2 percent in July from June, when they fell by a revised 0.3 percent, Destatis reported Tuesday. Nonetheless, the pace of growth was weaker than the expected 0.5 percent.

Germany's construction activity expanded at a steady pace in August, survey figures from Markit Economics showed Tuesday. The construction Purchasing Managers' Index, or PMI, came in at 51.6 in August, the same reading as in the previous month.

Like-for-like sales in the United Kingdom were down 0.9 percent on year in August, the British Retail Consortium said on Tuesday. That missed expectations for an increase of 1.4 percent following the 1.1 percent decline in July.

Service sector growth in the U.S. slowed to its slowest rate in over six years, according to a report released by the Institute for Supply Management on Tuesday. The ISM said its non-manufacturing index tumbled to 51.4 in August from 55.5 in July, falling to its lowest level since February of 2010.

Economists had expected the index to show a much more modest drop to 55.0.