European shares fall; JC Decaux and Raiffeisen slump

European shares slipped on Wednesday as some weak earnings pushed the market lower after two previous days of gains.

Outdoor advertising group JC Decaux was among the worst-performers.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index and the European STOXX 600 index were both down by 0.6 per cent.

JC Decaux slumped 9.2 per cent. A weak second-quarter outlook issued by the company caused several investment banks to cut their ratings and price targets on the stock.

Austria's Raiffeisen Bank also dropped by around 10 per cent on concerns over the company's plans to merge with its unlisted parent company Raiffeisen Zentralbank.

However, shares in Norwegian publishing company Schibsted surged 9.3 per cent after the company reported first-quarter core earnings above expectations.

Thomson Reuters StarMine data shows that 60 per cent of companies on the STOXX 600 index have met or beaten forecasts with their quarterly earnings so far. Many of them have done so by cutting costs in order to offset falling revenues.

“I'm still in the bearish camp, and I think that any rallies on the market are for selling. Some company results have beaten expectations, but you have to remember by just how much some of these expectations had already been lowered,” said Terry Torrison, managing director at Monaco-based McLaren Securities.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index is down by nearly 10 per cent so far in 2016, with world stock markets having been impacted by concerns about a China-led global economic slowdown.