Europe midday: Stocks slip amid geopolitical tensions
European stocks were slipping lower come midday on Wednesday following an upbeat session on Wall Street and as worries about gas supplies eased, after Russia's foreign minister said the geographical reach of its invasion of Ukraine would be expanded should the West provide Kyiv with long-range weaponry.
At 1225 BST, the benchmark Stoxx 600 index was drifting lower by 0.13% to 422.85, France’s CAC 40 was 0.25% lower to 6,185.91 and Germany’s DAX was off by 0.33% to 13,263.33.
In an interview with RT, Sergei Lavrov said Russia would have to extend its military operations in order to avoid its territory or that of those seeking independence from coming within reach of such weaponry.
Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said fears of a damaging US recession have receded a little in the rear-view mirror, with Wall Street closing at a three-week high on Tuesday following some more upbeat earnings report.
"The relief rally [the day before] was prompted by a raft of higher profits from companies across a range of sectors including toy manufacturer Hasbro and oilfield services provider Halliburton. Netflix provided some after-hours cheer, rising by 8% as fewer subscribers than expected ditched the streaming giant, but with 1 million customers signing out, it’s clear the company has its work cut out in developing new content to lure them back in and grow its base elsewhere."
Stocks had surged during the previous session after a Reuters report that Russian gas flows via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline were expected to restart on time on Thursday after the completion of scheduled maintenance.
This "has helped ease immediate fears about a fresh energy shock with European gas prices dipping back slightly, but nations are still scrambling to ensure gas reserves are filled before a highly uncertain winter approaches," Streeter said.
Still ahead for after the close of trading in London was a vote in the Italian Senate, at 1730 BST, on whether or not to rebuild a governing unity coalition.
One of the alternatives was the calling of early elections in Italy, most likely in autumn.
On a more positive note, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, appeared to confirm that natural gas exports through Nordstream 1 would recommence, subject to Gazprom being able to continue maintenance tasks.
Investors were also looking ahead to the latest policy announcement from the European Central Bank on Thursday, following reports that policymakers would discuss whether to increase interest rates by a bigger-than-expected 50 basis points to tackle inflation.
In corporate news, chipmaker ASML edged up even after it cut its sales growth guidance for the year.