Yahoo Finance What to Watch: Stocks rebound, Airbus warning, Bitcoin anniversary
Here’s a daily overview of the top business, market and economic developments to watch in the UK, Europe and abroad:
Stocks rebound as earnings shine
European stock markets were swinging higher after positive trading sessions in the US and Asia, along with well-received earnings results.
The UK’s FTSE 100 (^FTSE), German DAX (^GDAXI), and French CAC40 (^FCHI) were all up by about 1% to 2% in early morning trading.
Strong earnings results from L’Oreal (OR.PA), Sanofi (SAN.PA), Air France-KLM (AF.PA) and banks Standard Chartered (STAN.L) and Santander (SAN.MC) soothed investors’ nerves.
L’Oreal shares jumped roughly 6% after the company reported strong sales growth in the third quarter, driven by booming demand in Asia. This bucked the trend of corporate warnings about slower Chinese growth.
Shares in French pharmaceuticals giant Sanofi rose about 5% in early trading after it confirmed its return to growth with higher-than-expected third-quarter profits. It also raised its 2018 profit target for the second time this year.
Air France-KLM shares were rallying by about 4% after the airline reported rising sales and passenger numbers in the third quarter.
The banks Santander and Standard Chartered each saw shares surge by about 4% to 5% after reporting results that exceeded investor expectations.
Airbus warning
Shares in Airbus (AIR.PA) were missing out on the Wednesday rally after the aircraft manufacturer warned that reaching plane delivery targets would be a “greater stretch” after a sequence of industrial problems. “A lot remains to be done before the end of the year to fulfil commitments,” the company said in a statement.
New UK unicorn: Monzo
Fast-growing UK startup bank Monzo is now worth £1bn ($1.2bn), just three years after launching, making it a “unicorn.”
A unicorn is a term used in the venture capital industry to refer to any tech startup that reaches a $1bn market value.
The app-only bank announced on Wednesday that it raised £85m ($108m) in a ‘Series E’ fundraising — its fifth injection of institutional money since its founding in 2015. The funding round values the company at £1bn.
CEO Tom Blomfield told Yahoo Finance UK that the cash will go towards “UK growth and product development, particularly driven by hiring.” The bank currently employs 450 people but plans to double that to 900 in next 12 months.
Bitcoin’s 10-year anniversary
Wednesday marks 10 years since the white paper “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” was posted to a cryptographic mailing list, sparking one of the biggest flurries of tech innovation in a decade.
The paper, by the still-unknown Satoshi Nakamoto, led to the creation of bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency. There are now over 2,000 cryptocurrencies in circulation and the entire industry is worth over $200 billion.
What to expect in the US
US markets on Wednesday could take their direction from Facebook (FB), after the social media company issued third quarter earnings on Tuesday after the close. Shares were trading up about 4% premarket.
General Motors (GM), Kellogg (K) and AIG (AIG) are other notable companies set to report quarterly results on Wednesday.
With files from Reuters and Yahoo Finance UK’s Oscar Williams-Grut.
Related: The 10 biggest crypto coins
