LONDON — European markets closed lower Thursday, with a flurry of corporate earnings and a selloff on Wall Street in focus.
The regional Stoxx 600 closed down 0.72%, with technology stocks weighing on the index, ending the session down 2.75%.
Consumer goods giant Unilever climbed 6% despite missing a sales growth forecast from a company-compiled consensus, as it upgraded its full-year margin guidance.
After European banks' turn in the spotlight on Wednesday, investors are now assessing results from companies including Nestle, carmaker Renault, and Swiss health-care firm Roche.
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Stellantis, the maker of the Jeep and Dodge brands, reported a 48% fall in first-half net profit, attributing the decline to to reduced volumes, temporary production gaps and a lower market share in North America.
Shares of French luxury group Kering meanwhile tumbled to a seven-year low on a sharp decline in revenue.
U.S. stocks rose as investors looked to recover from a tech-driven selloff, which on Wednesday saw the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 record their worst sessions since 2022. Analysts noted a market rotation out of mega-cap stocks into more cyclical areas of the market all through last week, which was compounded Wednesday when earnings from Alphabet and Tesla disappointed.
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"Markets saw a massive slump yesterday, as the combination of weak earnings and poor data hit investor sentiment," Deutsche Bank strategists said in a Thursday note.
"That led to some very big losses, with the Magnificent 7 (-5.88%) posting its worst day since September 2022, leaving it in technical correction territory after falling over -10% from its record just two weeks earlier."
Data mainly came stateside Thursday, as gross domestic product for the second quarter grew by a stronger-than-expected 2.8%.
Asia-Pacific stocks were pulled down by the global action. Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 3%, while the yen strengthened against the U.S. dollar after Reuters reported that the Bank of Japan is expected to discuss a rate hike at its monetary policy meeting next week.
