Market update: Third-quarter growth falters in Germany, France and Italy – 14.11.2013

Source: Henderson Global Investors

Wall Street closed higher yesterday with the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 up 0.5% and 0.8% respectively, driven higher by Yellen's relatively dovish confirmation hearing testimony. According to Reuters, Starbucks shares rose 1.1% after the coffee company said it would restate its fourth-quarter results to show an operating loss of $2.12bn due to damages related to its dispute with Kraft Foods. Trucking company YRC Worldwide, slumped 20.7% after reporting a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss due to a shortage of drivers.

In Asia, Chinese stocks opened up weaker as the plenum disappointment continued to weigh on sentiment. In Japan, third quarter gross domestic product growth was reported at 1.9% quarter-on-quarter, which was better than the 1.7% rate of growth expected. The Nikkei was up 2.5%.

European stocks are higher this morning with the FTSE 100 and the FTSE Eurofirst 300 both up 0.7% despite disappointing third quarter growth in Europe. Germany’s growth slipped to 0.3% from 0.7% in the second quarter (Q2), France shrank 0.1% after growing 0.5% in Q2 while Italy shrank a further 0.1%. In stock news, positive earnings from France’s construction and telecoms conglomerate Bouygues and the UK’s Prudential led a broad rally that excluded only the utilities sector following a weak outlook from Germany’s RWE.