Europe's STOXX 600 rebounds in broad based gains; Stellantis plunge drags auto stocks

Synopsis

Europe's benchmark share index rebounded on Friday, with the STOXX 600 up 0.9% as investors digested mixed corporate earnings. Stellantis plunged on EV development charges, while defence stocks surged on strong results and orders. The index closed the week with a 1% gain, navigating AI-driven market shifts and ECB decisions.

Europe's benchmark share index rose on Friday in a largely broad-based rebound from the prior session's losses, as investors assessed a mixed bag of earnings from companies including carmaker Stellantis and defence firm Kongsberg.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.9% ‌at 617.12 points, ‌also bouncing back from a drop earlier in the session.

Stellantis tanked 25.2%, its biggest single-day drop on record and sent the broader auto ‌sector index down 3%.

The Franco-Italian company booked charges of around 22.2 billion euros ($26.5 billion) in the second half of last year as it scaled down electric-vehicle development plans.

Meanwhile, defence stocks were among top gainers with a 1.6% rise.

Norway's Kongsberg jumped 15.6% after reporting a bigger-than-expected rise in operating profit for the fourth quarter. It also won a $165 million order from Germany and Sweden for remote weapon stations.

The STOXX 600 closed the week with a 1% gain, as markets navigated ups and downs driven by the corporate ‌updates and ‍the European Central Bank's interest rate decision. A surprising sell-off in technology and media stocks ‍also weighed on sentiment earlier this week.

Global investors have been weighing the ‌repercussions of newer artificial intelligence tools that are likely to intensify competition for traditional software businesses.

On the other hand, AI majors such as U.S.-based Amazon.com and Alphabet have unveiled plans to boost their spending on the technology that analysts say could benefit hardware makers.

"In the U.S., they are seeing a dislocation between software and hardware, driven by an AI theme that is boosting demand for memory, while creating challenges for software companies, and that's the dislocation currently being priced by the market," said Sophie Huynh, portfolio ‍manager & strategist at BNP Paribas Asset Management, adding that much of this uncertainty was spilling over to the rest of the world.

Tech and media stocks gained 1.2% and 0.5%, respectively, ‍on the day, ⁠but both have been the ⁠biggest laggards on the benchmark index this week. The tech sector posted its biggest weekly drop in 11 weeks.

Banks, which had rallied for much of last year, were up 1.4% on the day.

Societe Generale edged 2.2% lower after the French lender reported a sharp drop in investment banking trading revenue that underperformed rivals and overshadowed an overall forecast-beating fourth quarter.

Among individual movers, weight-loss drugmaker Novo Nordisk gained 5.3% after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration threatened action on "illegal copycat drugs".

Norwegian telecom operator Telenor climbed 7.2% after reporting fourth-quarter earnings above analysts' expectations.

On the economic front, German production fell more than expected in December, tempering industrial recovery hopes.

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