A sign is seen on the entrance gate of the main Paris office building of EADS. The aerospace and defence giant’s shares tumbled 2.59% to €49.18 in Paris trade yesterday as both French and German officials signalled they will push back against job cuts by EADS.
AFP
European stock markets slid yesterday while the euro gained against the dollar as traders remained firmly focused on the outlook for US stimulus.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index ended the day down 0.55% at 6,523.31 points.
Frankfurt’s DAX 30 fell 0.88% to 9,114.44 points and the CAC 40 in Paris shed 1.04% to 4,091.14 points.
“Europe’s markets have continued their theme of underperformance slipping back today after a slight miss on Chinese industrial production, as well as uncertainty about the timing of the start of a pullback in the current Fed stimulus programme,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
“Last night’s comments from St Louis Fed President James Bullard about the prospect of a possible taper may not have spooked US investors that much, but given the recent direction of travel on Europe’s markets they appear to have been enough to limit the upside in terms of European trading today, and prompt some continued profit taking as volumes continue to decline,” he said.
Bullard, the president of the Fed’s St Louis branch, said on Monday that “a small taper” of the bank’s $85bn a month bond-buying scheme could be on the cards at its December 17-18 policy meeting. He said “the probability of a reduction in the pace of asset purchases has increased” with evidence of accelerating job gains and the likelihood those advances will continue.
In foreign exchange yesterday, the euro climbed to $1.3767 from $1.3737 late in New York yesterday.
The dollar slid to ¥102.90 from 103.28 on Monday.
US stocks dipped in midday trade yesterday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average was
down 0.15% to 15,987.32 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.28% to 1,803.27 and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.15% to 4,062.47 points.
EADS tumbled 2.59% to €49.18 in Paris trade as both French and German officials signalled they will push back against job cuts by the aerospace and defence giant.
EADS announced late on Monday that 5,800 jobs in its defence and space division would go in the next three years. The cuts are part of a restructuring programme undertaken by the company to cope with falling orders, and will affect its workforce in Germany, France, Spain and Britain.
While the French, German and Spanish states have lost their controlling voice in the company following a recent change to the shareholder structure, the governments are unhappy a profitable company is cutting jobs when unemployment is running at near record highs in the eurozone.