UPDATE 2-European shares fall as rate uncertainty, earnings sour sentiment

Metsera, Inc. 0.00%
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Metsera, Inc.

MTSR

70.50

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Pfizer Inc.

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Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. Class A

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ING rises on Q3 beat, distribution plans

WPP plunges after Q3 revenue miss and FY profit warning

SocGen slips as CEO holds fire on buybacks

Stellantis flags one-off charges

Updates after markets close

By Sukriti Gupta and Purvi Agarwal

- European shares logged their third session of declines on Thursday as uncertainty over the future moves of central banks grew, while investors parsed a new raft of corporate earnings.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX fell 0.1% and most regional bourses also ended the day in the red.

The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates on Wednesday but Chair Jerome Powell said another reduction could be out of reach this year, causing investors to dial back bets on a December cut.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior market analyst at Swissquote Bank, said the hawkish stance on the December cut was "leading to a bearish readjustment of the market expectations and some pull-down in the risk sentiment", stressing major global indexes.

The European Central Bank's meeting was uneventful as it held rates steady on Thursday and gave nothing away on future actions.

INDUSTRIAL STOCKS ARE BIGGEST DRAG

Industrial stocks were the biggest drag on the STOXX 600.

Schneider Electric SCHN.PA fell 3.3% despite beating organic growth forecast , while defence firm Kongsberg Gruppen KOG.OL bottomed the benchmark index with an 18.3% decline on plans to spin off its maritime business.

Automobile .SXAP stocks fell the most. Stellantis STLAM.MI slid 8.9% after flagging one-off charges related to changes in regulation, strategy and products.

Meanwhile, three of the biggest U.S. technology companies flagged plans on Wednesday to accelerate capital spending over the next year.

"(These) results paint a pretty picture for the AI trade... Spending is going up across the board as demand remains robust, and as supply remains constrained. Until those dynamics flip, AI will remain the main game in town," said Ben Barringer, head of technology research at Quilter Cheviot.

Technology stocks .SX8P were the top gainers, up 0.9%.

Among others, WPP WPP.L plunged 16% after it warned on profit again and its new CEO said it would take time to turn around the company.

Societe Generale SOGN.PA fell 3.6% after its CEO declined to commit to handing over more excess capital to shareholders.

ING INGA.AS gained 5.8% after the lender announced plans to allocate 1.6 billion euros ($1.9 billion) on share buybacks and dividends. Standard Chartered STAN.L rose 3.6% after saying it would hit a key profitability target a year earlier than expected.

Airbus AIR.PA climbed 2.1% after its third-quarter earnings topped expectations.

Novo Nordisk NOVOb.CO fell 3.6% after entering the bidding war with Pfizer PFE.N for U.S. biotech Metsera MTSR.O, while Puma PUMG.DE declined 8.3% after an over 15% fall in third-quarter sales.

On the trade front, the U.S. struck a deal to trim tariffs on China in exchange for Beijing resuming U.S. soybean purchases, keeping rare earths exports flowing and cracking down on the illicit trade of fentanyl.


(Reporting by Sukriti Gupta and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema, Vijay Kishore and Ed Osmond)

((Sukriti.Gupta@thomsonreuters.com;))