European stocks opened lower on Thursday after a mixed session on Wall Street with Siemens Energy one of the biggest decliners. The German engineering firm's stock plunged 12% after it warned that it may not be able to meet its full-year revenue guidance. The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.3% at 0918 GMT with Frankfurt's DAX and London's FTSE 100 both dropping about 0.4%. In the US the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% overnight.
The European stock markets were hit by a raft of earnings reports from major companies on Thursday. Elsewhere French spirits maker Pernod Ricard rose 2.8% after raising its profit forecast for the full year while Swiss drugmaker Roche saw its shares jump 2.2% after it reported better-than-expected results for its cancer drugs. In London British American Tobacco was up 0.4% while Unilever fell 2.2%.
The European Central Bank's (ECB) policy-making committee meets later on Thursday where it is expected to keep its policy unchanged. ECB President Christine Lagarde has recently said the bank is ready to adjust its policy stance if needed as the eurozone faces continued economic headwinds amid a slow recovery from the pandemic.
The eurozone economy is expected to contract by 7.7% this year according to European Central Bank forecasts. That compares with a decline of 5% in the US and a fall of 4.5% in China. The ECB has forecast that the economy will rebound by 4.3% in 2021 but there are concerns that the recovery could be hampered by a second wave of Covid-19 infections and restrictions.
