European markets ended higher on Tuesday as worries about Brexit eased a bit and some big-name U.S. companies reported stronger than expected third quarter results.
There were concerns about U.S.-China trade deal following China but the focus today was more on earnings reports and other corporate news.
China said on Monday that it would like another round of discussions before signing the "phase one deal". According to reports, U.S. Trade secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Monday that December's tariffs would likely go ahead without a deal in plave between the U.S. and China.
The pan European Stoxx 600 ended up 1.11%. Among the major indices, Germany's DAX gained 1.15%, France's CAC 40 advanced 1.04% and Switzerland's SMI ended up 0.85%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged down marginally.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweeden, Switzerland and Turkey closed with sharp to moderate gains.
Greece, Poland and Portugal ended modestly higher, while Czech Republic ended flat and Iceland closed weak.
German stocks Deutsche Bank, BMW, Fresenius, Vonovia, Daimler, Infineon, Muench. Rueckvers, Adidas, Lufthansa, Deutsche Post, Allianz and Volkswagen gained 1.7 to 3%.
Wirecard shares plunged more than 12% on reports about the company's documents raising suspicions of fraudulent accounting with regard to sales and profits at businesses in Dubai and Ireland.
In France, BNP Paribas, Saint Gobain, Kering, Peugeot, Legrand, STMicroElectronics, Bouygues and Societe Generale gained 2 to 4%. Capgemini, Publicis Groupe, Carrefour, Michelin and Credit Agricole also ended sharply higher.
In the U.K. market, Land Securities, British Land Company, United Utilities, Lloyds Banking, Barratt Developments and RBS gained 5 to 6%. EasyJet, IAG, Barclays and Marks & Spencer also rose sharply.
Shares of recruitment firm Hays gained about 8% after the company reported modest growth in the first quarter.
Fresnillo, Reckitt Benckiser, Compass, Rio Tinto, Diageo, BHP Group, GlaxoSmithKline, Unilever and AstraZeneca ended sharply lower.
In economic news, the German ZEW economic sentiment index for October came in at -22.8 as compared to -27.0 expected.
The Euro-zone ZEW economic sentiment indicator for October arrived at -23.5 vs. -33.0 expected.
Final data from the statistical office Insee showed France's consumer price inflation slowed to 0.9% in September from 1% in August. The rate came in line with expectations.
The U.K. unemployment unexpectedly ticked higher in the three months to August, data from the Office for National Statistics showed.
The number of people in work fell 56,000 to 32.69 million while the level of unemployment increased by 22,000 to 1.31 million in three months to August.
The jobless rate rose to 3.9%, while it was expected to remain unchanged at 3.8%.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that the global economy is set to expand at the slowest pace in a decade this year amid weak manufacturing momentum, and rising trade and geopolitical tensions.
The global lender cut the growth forecast for this year to 3% from 3.3% projected in April, in its latest World Economic Outlook.
The pace of growth this year will be the lowest since 2008-09 global financial crisis, the report said.
The projection for 2020 was lowered to 3.4% from 3.6% forecast in April.
In earnings news from U.S., JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Johnson & Johnson and United Health reported better than expected third quarter results today. Goldman Sachs, however, reported numbers that fell short of expectations.
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