Europe close: Shares close lower on weaker EZ surveys, luxury stocks

European shares closed lower on Wednesday, with luxury stocks under the pump as LVMH second-quarter sales growth missed consensus estimates and eurozone service and manufacturing surveys showing weaker readings.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed down 0.61% at 512.30 with major regional bourses all lower. Sentiment was also hit by disappointing corporate earnings from Wall Street heavyweights overnight.

In after-hours trade in the US, Tesla shares fell sharply after the electric carmaker said net profits fell 45% in the second quarter, while Google parent Alphabet disappointed with slowing ad sales growth. In other news, Visa, UPS and GM also underwhelmed investors with their latest numbers.

"As such, two of the Magnificent 7 stocks failed to create euphoria when they reported their Q2 results yesterday. The less-than-ideal set of earnings comes at a time when investors are questioning whether the AI rally has gotten ahead of itself," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.

In economic news, The eurozone composite purchasing managers index fell 0.8pts to 50.1 - its second consecutive monthly decline. Both services and manufacturing output saw weaker readings,

Consumer sentiment in Germany rose to its highest level in more than two years, according to a closely watched survey from GfK and the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions, as income expectations and the economic outlook improved significantly.

The GfK Consumer Climate index for August increased to -18.4, up from a revised -21.6 in July and ahead of the -21.0 expected by economists. This was the highest reading since April 2022.

On the equities front Deutsche Bank shares fell after reporting a loss in the second quarter, higher-than-expected provisions. and revealed that a second share buyback was off the table this year.

Luxury stocks were all down after the LVMH numbers with Hugo Boss, Christian Dior and Kering all lower. Hugo Boss was also hit by a downgrade from Exane BNP Paribas to 'underperform' from 'outperform' citing slower topline momentum and pressure on margins.

Shares in Nexans surged after the cable and optical fibre group posted better-than-expected first half results and raised its annual guidance.

French plane maker Dassault Aviation was also flying higher after it on Tuesday reported higher first half adjusted net sales.

Defence firm Rheinmetall gained after it reported second-quarter sales and operating results above expectations.

Budget airline easyJet soared after it lifted its holiday forecast following a 16% rise in profit.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com