Europe midday: Musk raises eyebrows as he turns to Twitter for advice
European shares were still struggling for direction at midday after a mixed overnight session for Asian equities as investors responded to a Twitter poll by Tesla boss Elon Musk by urging him to sell 10% of his stock in the company.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down 0.07% after a strong performance last week where it reached record highs. Investors are waiting for US consumer prices readings on Wednesday that could influence Federal Reserve moves towards an interest rate rise.
Weaker Asian markets, driven by Chinese import figures that indicated weaker domestic demand, failed to provide any impetus in the morning session.
Oil stocks made gains on the back of firmer crude prices after OPEC+ producers pushed back against a US call to accelerate output as demand nears pre-Covid-pandemic levels.
In equity news, Siemens Gamesa Renewable was the biggest climber on the Stoxx with the shares up 9.5% after its full-year results. Affiliate Siemens Energy and turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems were up on the read-across.
Richemont rose 4% after reports that activist hedge fund Third Point had built a stake in the luxury goods firm.
Britain's Playtech gained after the online gambling software developer received a takeover bid from its second-biggest shareholder Gopher Investments.
Consumer goods group Henkel fell after lowering its full-year outlook due to rising raw materials prices.
Frankfurt-listed shares of Tesla dropped 5.65% after Musk raised eyebrows yet again by posing a question on Twitter asking followers if they were in favour of him dumping some shares in the electric car maker.
"You could say he just wants to sell some stock now because the valuation has rocketed lately, cash out while the going is good. It’s hard to criticise someone for doing that, is it? And rather than get berated by his fans for selling down his holdings, he can say ‘look, you told me to do it!’, said Neil Wilson at Markets.com.
"Either way, Musk was due to start selling soon anyway as he faces a monster tax bill on some of his stock options. And since he takes no salary or bonus from being Tesla CEO (he likes to remind us), the only way to cover would be to sell some shares. Seems fair enough, but does it need all the fintwit showbusiness?"