European equities fall as investors await US retail sales data and earnings

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European shares declined on Tuesday as investors awaited the release of US retail sales data as well as corporate earnings from major banks to gauge the impact of rising interest rates on the world’s largest economy.

Europe’s region-wide Stoxx 600 declined 0.1 percent, continuing two straight days of losses, while France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX declined by similar amounts at the market open.

Investors traded cautiously a day after weak growth data from Beijing triggered a selloff in European shares on fears that global demand would be hit if China’s economic recovery from the pandemic loses momentum.

“The data is particularly skewed on European equities, which are generally more exposed to China,” said Jim Reed, head of global fundamental credit strategy at Deutsche Bank. However, he added, this weakness was “not so apparent anywhere in America”.

Wall Street’s benchmarks the S&P 500 and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite both hit new 15-month highs on Monday as investor sentiment rose amid an encouraging corporate earnings season.

Attention is turning to major US banks, including Bank of America and Morgan Stanley, which will report their earnings later on Tuesday, while tech giants Tesla and Netflix are scheduled to report their earnings on Wednesday.

Big banks ended earnings season on a strong note last week, with JPMorgan and Wells Fargo reporting forecast-beating profits for the second quarter, amid investor concerns over lenders’ balance sheets following the collapse of several regional banks in the spring. Started it.

The contract tracking the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 were both up 0.1 percent ahead of the New York open.

Investors will also be watching U.S. retail sales data to be released later in the day to assess whether the country’s consumers are feeling the pinch as inflation slows more than a year after the Federal Reserve launched an aggressive monetary tightening campaign. How has the performance been?

Economists polled by Reuters forecast the US Census Bureau would report a monthly increase of 0.5 percent in overall retail sales in June, up from 0.3 percent in the previous month.

Meanwhile, Asian shares declined on Tuesday, with the Hang Seng index shedding 2.1 per cent after Hong Kong markets resumed trading after a day’s halt due to storms.

China’s CSI 300 benchmark of mainland equities fell 0.3 percent and South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.4 percent. Japan’s Topix index was the top gainer in the sector, rising 0.6 percent.