BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The European markets ended Wednesday's session solidly in negative territory. Investors exited riskier investments in favor of safe havens as tensions between North Korea and the United States have escalated.
President Donald Trump told reporters that further threats from North Korea would be 'met with fire, fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before.'
North Korea seemed unfazed by the President's bluster, however, as state media carried a statement indicating the communist nation is 'carefully examining' a plan to strike the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.
A car also hit a group of soldiers in the western Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret today in what the suburb's mayor called a deliberate act.
The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index weakened by 0.73 percent. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks decreased 1.33 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, lost 0.66 percent.
The DAX of Germany dropped 1.12 percent and the CAC 40 of France fell 1.40 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. declined 0.59 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished lower by 1.48 percent.
In Frankfurt, chemical distributor Brenntag sank 6.81 percent after its second-quarter results fell short of market expectations.
E.ON rose 3.73 percent after posting forecast-beating results for the first half and reaffirming its full-year guidance.
Scout24 climbed 5.34 percent after the online classifieds company forecast stronger growth in revenues in the second half of 2017.
In Paris, Engie fell 1.12 percent on reports that it is in talks to purchase a wind power project in Brazil.
In London, G4S, the world's largest security company, dropped 7.29 percent on concerns over slowing growth in its emerging markets division.
Ahold Delhaize tumbled 3.16 percent in Amsterdam. The Dutch-Belgian supermarket company reported a 68 percent jump in second-quarter net profit and said it expects underlying operating margin for the full year 2017 to be broadly in line with the first half.
ABN AMRO shed 0.44 percent. The bank reported larger than expected 45 percent rise in second-quarter underlying net profit, helped by an expanding Dutch economy and cost-cutting measures.
Novo Nordisk surged 7.87 percent in Copenhagen as the pharmaceutical company posted stronger-than-expected first half profits and lifted its growth targets for the year.
The French economy is forecast to grow at a steady pace in the third quarter, according to the monthly business survey published by the Bank of France on Wednesday. Gross domestic product is forecast to expand 0.5 percent in the third quarter, the same pace as seen in the second quarter.
Italy's industrial production grew more than expected in June, data from the statistical office Istat showed Wednesday. Industrial output climbed 1.1 percent month-on-month in June, faster than the 0.7 percent increase posted in May. The monthly growth was forecast to ease to 0.2 percent.
China's inflation eased slightly in July and producer price inflation remained stable on rising commodity prices. Inflation eased to 1.4 percent in July from 1.5 percent in June, the National Bureau of Statistics reported Wednesday. Economists had forecast the rate to remain unchanged at 1.5 percent.
Another report from NBS showed that producer price inflation held steady at 5.5 percent in July. Prices were forecast to climb 5.6 percent.
Labor productivity in the U.S. increased by slightly more than expected in the second quarter, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Wednesday.
The report said labor productivity climbed by 0.9 percent in the second quarter after inching up by a revised 0.1 percent in the first quarter. Economists had expected productivity to increase by 0.7 percent compared to the unchanged reading that had been reported for the previous quarter.
The Labor Department also said unit labor costs rose by 0.6 percent in the second quarter following an upwardly revised 5.4 percent spike in the first quarter. Unit labor costs had been expected to climb by 1.2 percent compared to the 2.2 percent jump that had been reported for the previous quarter.
A report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday showed wholesale inventories in the U.S. rose by slightly more than expected in the month of June. The Commerce Department said wholesale inventories climbed by 0.7 percent in June after rising by an upwardly revised 0.6 percent in May.
Economists had expected inventories to increase by 0.6 percent compared to the 0.4 percent growth originally reported for the previous month.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2017 AFX News
