European equities did a bit better on Wednesday, despite new data on prices out of the US that only served to heighten worries that inflation is getting out of hand. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.1 percent by the end of the trading day to 1,240.15.
Banking and finance was mixed on mergers and acquisitions issues. After Credit Suisse said that it would sell its Winterthur insurance business to French insurer Axa, Credit Suisse gained 1.4 percent to SFr63.70 but Axa dropped 1.8 percent to €23.87. Meanwhile, Greek bank Emporiki added 1.8 percent to €25.24 as investors hoped for another bid after Greece’s finance minister made the comment that it should not be too quick to accept Credit Agricole’s bid. Agricole, meanwhile, was up 2.1 percent to €27.33.
The pharmaceuticals sector also saw maneuvering around bids issues. Bayer added 6.9 percent to €32.66 when competitor Merck took itself out of the bidding for German healthcare group Schering. Schering gained 2.1 percent to €89.00, while Merck was up 6 percent to €72.58 as investors anticipated a possible special dividend.
On the negative side of the ledger, airplane manufacturer EADS lost 26.3 percent to €18.73 after announcing that delays in deliveries of the Airbus A380 superjumbo jet would cost it €2 billion next year and that in view of the delays, it would allow buyers to walk away from orders they had already placed. In consequence, Deutsche Bank issued a downgrade on EADS from “buy” to “hold” and revised its target share price downward from €33 to €26. WestLB, on the other hand, upgraded the aircraft maker to “buy”.