Europe close: Stocks finish off lows

Investors reacted with disappointment to a wave of corporate earnings in Europe, pushing the Stoxx 600 index down to levels not seen in nearly three months a one pint during the session.

A total of 53 of the pan-European gauge's constituents reported results on Thursday.

The pan-European benchmark traded 0.72% lower to 508.63 with Germany's Dax down 0.48% at 18,298.72, while Milan's FTSE Mib fell 2.03% to 33,771.07.

Weighing on stocks was a downdraft on Wall Street overnight on the back of the latest quarterly numbers out of Alphabet and Tesla, together with election 'uncertainty' in the US.

Weaker-than-expected economic data in Germany acted as a further drag, as did the unresolved political situation in France.

Against that backdrop, a bunch of heavyweight stocks were registering heavy losses across the continent following their latest quarterly earnings, including Nestle, Renault, Stellantis, and Kering.

Roche was a rare bright spark, gaining 2% in Zurich after the company upped its profit guidance for the full year following better-than-expected first-half sales.

Another outperformer was Unilever, surging 6% in London after reporting a 4.1% increase in underlying sales in the first half as it held on to full-year guidance.

On the economic side of things, the IFO institute's Business Climate Index for Germany slipped from a reading of 88.6 for June to 87.0 in July (consensus: 88.9).

According to Andrew Kenningham at Capital Economics, the index suggested that Germany's problems were not yet over and pointed instead to a fresh economic downturn.