FX.co ★ European Shares Gain On Positive Data, Solid Bank Earnings

On Tuesday, most European stocks performed rather well as investors responded to broadly positive regional economic figures, coupled with promising bank profits.

A 0.4% decrease in German factory orders for March came as a surprise, analysts had predicted an increase in the same margin. However, this rate of decrease was slower than February's revised 0.8% drop.

Positive trends were observed in terms of German exports, which saw a 0.9% monthly increase for March, overturning a prior decrease of 1.6% in February.

Additional data revealed a drop in France's trade deficit in March to EUR 5.47 billion, down from EUR 5.61 billion in February. This reduction was attributed to the faster rate of exports compared to imports.

Over in the U.K., data released by mortgage lender Halifax revealed stabilized house prices for April, a promising recovery from a decrease the previous month.

The regional STOXX 600 index witnessed a 0.6% uptick to 511.31, following a half percent increase on Monday. Similarly, the German DAX saw a 0.6% ascend, while France's CAC 40 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose by 0.4% and over 1% respectively.

Corporate news saw Swiss banking group, UBS Group AG scaling a whopping 8.2% as it bounced back to profit after suffering losses for two quarters. Similarly, Italy's second-largest lender, UniCredit SpA, showed a surge of 3.5% after revealing a significantly higher Q1 net income than anticipated, which led to an upgrade in its profit forecast for the year.

However, the software-developing firm, TeamViewer, fell behind by 6.7% after announcing lower than estimated Q1 revenue and earnings. Health technology firm, Siemens Healthineers saw a near 4% dip after its Q2 revenue missed predictions.

Online fashion retailer, Zalando, surged by 5.2% after announcing its return to growth in the first quarter and maintaining its guidance for the year.

Meanwhile, Paris-based biotech company, Valneva, suffered a 1.6 % share fall. The company reported a turnaround to net income for the first quarter, backed by a net gain of 90.8 million euros from the sale of a priority review voucher.

The construction, media, and telecommunications conglomerate, Bouygues, recorded a 3.5% tumble after reporting a widening Q1 loss.

British office-space provider, IWG, experienced a slight dip on revealing flat revenue for the first quarter of 2024.

Oil and gas titan BP Plc's shares fell by half a percent after its first-quarter profit missed the mark.

Swiss iron ore company, Ferrexpo, witnessed a 3% bump after issuing an update on proceedings against its Ukrainian subsidiary, Ferrexpo Poltava Mining.

The company decided to make a partial payment of the bail approved by the Kyiv Court of Appeal on April 29 for Viktor Lotous, the General Director and Chair of the FPM Management Board, regarding the royalty related investigation.