Investing.com – European stocks started the week on a gloomy note, as a heavy set of upcoming macroeconomic data and a troubling leadership drama in Nvidia’s barometer of artificial intelligence kept markets on edge.
Still wondering which stocks will beat the market? Our AI portfolio is updated monthly and outperforms the S&P 500 by 118%. See this month’s list »
The pan-European STOXX 600 index struggled to find a definitive direction at the start of the session, it was down 0.1%. Germany’s DAX remained stable, France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.3% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.1%.
This week features a series of central bank speeches, critical inflation figures and regional growth data that could reshape year-end monetary policy expectations.
While the European agenda lacked major domestic business catalysts on Monday, cross-border sentiment was weighed down by developments out of Silicon Valley.
Markets spent the morning digesting reports that Nvidia’s board has opened an independent investigation into founder and CEO Jensen Huang.
The investigation followed a personal note from Huang to employees in which he confirmed he had been unfaithful to his wife. Compounding the corporate governance shock, reports identified the woman as a suspected Chinese spy, with US intelligence agencies concluding she was an intelligence operative working for Beijing.
Not sure what to buy before profits? Our AI’s recent pre-earnings calls generated gains of +77% to +118% after earnings fell. See this month’s earnings »
Frankfurt-listed Nvidia shares were down 6%. This follows last week’s recent sharp sell-off which had already placed stocks under severe pressure following the US mid-term elections.
Banco BPM jumped 9% after Crédit Agricole SA proposed merging its Italian subsidiary with the Italian lender. Shares of the French bank fell 1.4%.
UniCredit rose 4% after raising its full-year profit target.
Focus on central bank speeches and the American CPI
The week is packed with public appearances by a litany of European Central Bank officials, including chief economist Philip Lane and President Christine Lagarge.
Adding to transatlantic tensions, investors are bracing for the latest US Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, which is expected to show headline inflation rising 0.3% month-on-month in October.
Closer to home, market participants are awaiting the release of third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figures for the Eurozone to assess whether the region has managed to avoid a formal recession despite months of sharp margin compression from energy.
Gn bussni
