European shares flat, investors brace for Trump's Iran deal decision
Reuters
Published May 08, 2018 03:48AM ET
European shares flat, investors brace for Trump's Iran deal decision
LONDON (Reuters) - European shares opened broadly flat on Tuesday as investors prepared for Donald Trump's decision on whether to withdraw the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal, a move which could disrupt global oil supply.
At 0738 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.05 percent with a flurry of first-quarter corporate earnings and mergers and acquisitions deals prompting sharp individual price moves.
Shares in Danish hearing aid maker William Demant (CO:WDH) were the worst performer, falling over 10 percent after warning that lower demand would weigh on sales.
German postal and logistics group Deutsche Post DHL (DE:DPWGn) also disappointed investors by missing first-quarter profit expectations and saw its shares fall 6.7 percent.
Among European blue chips, Unilever (LON:ULVR) posted the best performance, up 1.9 percent as it announced the start of a 6 billion euro share buyback scheme.
In London, Shire (L:SHP) added 2.8 percent after Takeda Pharmaceutical (T:4502) said it agreed to buy the group for 45.3 billion pounds ($61.50 billion) after it raised the cash element to secure a recommendation.
Sky (L:SKYB) was down 1.1 percent after U.S. cable operator Comcast (O:CMCSA) formally notified the European Commission of its intention to bid for Britain's pay-TV group.
Sources also told Reuters earlier that Comcast was asking investment banks to increase a bridge financing facility by as much as $60 billion so it could make an all-cash offer for the media assets that Twenty-First Century Fox agreed to sell to Walt Disney.
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Written By: Reuters
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