European equities were uneven on Wednesday as investors balanced political uncertainty in France with anticipation ahead of Nvidia’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) quarterly earnings. Weak consumer sentiment data from Germany also added to the cautious mood.
French Prime Minister François Bayrou called on lawmakers Tuesday to make a choice between “chaos” and “responsibility” during the upcoming confidence vote scheduled for September 8.
Adding to the headwinds, a closely followed GfK survey revealed that German consumer confidence is expected to decline again in September. Rising concerns over job security are discouraging spending, dimming hopes of a solid economic rebound.
The regional indices reflected the cautious tone: France’s CAC 40 gained 0.7%, the FTSE 100 hovered just below unchanged in London, while Germany’s DAX slipped 0.1%.
In the U.K., financials were under pressure with Natwest Group (LSE:NWG), Barclays (LSE:BARC), and Standard Chartered (LSE:STAN) losing 2.5%, 1.45%, and 1.3%, respectively. Other laggards included Endeavour Mining (LSE:EDV), Bunzl (LSE:BNZL), Associated British Foods (LSE:ABF), Prudential (LSE:PRU), and Sainsbury (LSE:SBRY).
JD Sports Fashion (LSE:JD.) bucked the trend, climbing nearly 1.5% after unveiling a £100 million share buyback plan. The company said second-quarter group like-for-like sales were down 3%, though organic sales rose 2.2%. For the 26 weeks to August 2, comparable sales declined 2.5%.
Other U.K. names posting modest gains of 1–1.5% included Pershing Square Holdings (LSE:PSH), National Grid (LSE:NG.), Airtel Africa (LSE:AAF), Severn Trent (LSE:SVT), Vodafone Group (LSE:VOD), Intercontinental Hotels Group (LSE:IHG), SSE (LSE:SEE), Pearson (LSE:PSON), Haleon (LSE:HLN), and Games Workshop (LSE:GAW).
German stocks leaned weaker, with Commerzbank (TG:CBK) falling 3.2% for a second straight day and Deutsche Bank (TG:DBK) off 2.3%. Zalando (TG:ZAL), BASF (TG:BAS), and Siemens Energy (TG:SIE) dropped between 1.4% and 1.7%. Offsetting some of the losses, Porsche (TG:PAH3) gained over 1%, while Covestro (BIT:11COV), RWE (TG:RWE), SAP (TG:SAP), Bayer (TG:BAYN), Vonovia (TG:VNA), Munich RE (TG:A289EQ), Deutsche Telekom (TG:DTE), and E.ON (TG:A30V8B) advanced slightly.
In Paris, Carrefour (EU:CA) declined 2.2%, while ArcelorMittal (EU:MT), Unibail Rodamco (BIT:URW), and Edenred (EU:EDEN) fell 1.1–1.4%. Other decliners included Stellantis (BIT:STLAM), Veolia (EU:VIE), Credit Agricole (EU:ACA), Eurofins Scientific (EU:ERF), and BNP Paribas (EU:BNP). On the upside, luxury giant LVMH (EU:MC) rose 1.8%, joined by AXA (TG:AXA), Thales (EU:HO), Hermes International (EU:RMS), Vivendi (EU:VIV), Bouygues (EU:EN), TotalEnergies (EU:TTE), Air Liquide (EU:AI), Dassault Systemes (EU:DSY), Kering (EU:KER), and Vinci (EU:DG), each up around 1–1.3%.
The GfK index of German consumer confidence fell to -23.6 for September from -21.7 in August, worse than forecasts for a milder drop to -22.
“With the third consecutive decline, consumer sentiment is now definitely in the summer slump,” said Rolf Burkl, head of consumer climate research at NIM.
“Growing fear of job losses is causing many consumers to remain cautious about making major purchases,” Burkl added. “This further dampens hopes for a robust recovery in consumer sentiment before the end of the year.”
Income expectations plunged in August, with the relevant index tumbling 11.1 points to 4.1, the lowest since March. Persistent worries about energy costs, influenced by geopolitical risks and U.S. tariff policy, also weighed on the outlook.
Economic expectations declined for a second consecutive month, sliding to -7.4, the weakest reading in half a year.
In the U.K., the Confederation of British Industry’s retail sales gauge inched higher to -32 in August from -34 in July, beating forecasts of -33. Still, the survey pointed to an 11th straight month of falling retail sales volumes, though the outlook for September improved to -16.
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