FILE PHOTO: The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, July 5, 2019. REUTERS/Staff
July 9, 2019
(Reuters) – European shares opened lower on Tuesday in what could be their third straight day of losses as German shares fell sharply due to a profit warning from chemicals giant BASF.
Amid dimming hopes of a sharp cut in U.S. interest rates this month that has been weighing on riskier assets since late last week, the pan-European STOXX 600 index <.STOXX> fell 0.4% by 0714 GMT, in line with Asian peers and Wall Street overnight.
German shares <.GDAXI> tumbled 0.8%.
In the latest evidence of the U.S.-China trade war squeezing businesses, German chemicals firm BASF <BASFn.DE> slumped 5.3% on warning that profit would fall below forecasts for the second quarter and the full year.
This hit fellow chemicals company Bayer <BAYGn.DE>, which fell 1%, taking Europe’s chemicals index <.SX4P> down 1.7%.
Nordic lender Danske Bank <DANSKE.CO>, which has been struggling to restore trust among investors after disclosing a major money laundering scandal at one of its branches, cut its 2019 earnings forecast for the second time, sending its shares 2.5% lower.
Deutsche Bank <DBKGn.DE> fell 1.6%, adding to Monday’s 5.4% slide as it began to slash 18,000 jobs in a 7.4 billion euro ($8.3 billion) “reinvention” that will lead to yet another annual loss.
(Reporting by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
