LONDON (ShareCast) - European shares closed in negative territory after disappointing quarterly results from US blue chips knocked investor confidence on this side of the pond.
Bank of America (NYSE: IKJ
- news) suffered a $2.2bn loss in the latest quarter, while General Electric (NYSE: GE - news) reported a 45% drop in third-quarter net income.
European shares opened higher in the morning after a bunch of positive US earnings reports overnight. Internet search giant Google (NASDAQ: GOOG - news) posted a rise in revenues and profits in the third quarter and said it was confident of further growth having seemingly weathered the worst of the downturn.
Computer giant IBM (NYSE: IBM - news) met forecasts for third quarter earnings and also raised estimates for the fourth, though investors still knocked the share price lower in after hours trading.
Across the markets, the German DAX closed down 87 points at 5,743 with the French CAC falling 56 points to 3,838. The Swiss market was 38 points lower at 6,345.
On the positive side, energy shares were going well as oil prices jumped to their highest in a year yesterday.
US light crude for November delivery has since fallen back slightly but was still trading above $77 a barrel when European markets closed.
Royal Dutch Shell (Amsterdam: RDSA.AS - news) , Eni (Milan: ENI.MI - news) and Total were among the risers.
Elsewhere, German carmaker Volkswagen (Xetra: 766400 - news) closed down after it said it may raise more cash from its shareholders to secure its merger with Porsche (Xetra: POR3.DE - news) .
'This would allow the Volkswagen Group to maintain its medium-term financial flexibility while at the same time safeguarding its good rating over the long term,' it said.
CAC 40 (Paris: news) - Risers
Technip (TEC (A067950.KQ - news) ) € 47.76 +1.66%
Total (FP) € 42.15 +0.68%
Dexia (DEXB) € 6.67 +0.47%
L'Oreal (Paris: FR0000120321 - news) (OR) € 68.03 +0.24%
Suez Environnement Company (SEV) € 15.31 +0.10%
Essilor International (EI) € 41.06 +0.06%
CAC 40 - Fallers
Saint Gobain (Paris: FR0000125007 - news) (SGO) € 37.85 -4.46%
Sanofi (Paris: FR0000120578 - news) -Aventis (SAN) € 51.28 -4.27%
Carrefour (CA) € 30.15 -3.33%
Vallourec (VK) € 119.20 -2.73%
BNP Paribas (Paris: FR0000131104 - news) (BNP) € 54.70 -2.69%
ST Microelectronics (Paris: NL0000226223 - news) (STM) € 6.52 -2.66%
AXA (CS) € 19.20 -2.61%
Alstom (ALO) € 50.38 -2.55%
Societe Generale (Paris: FR0000130809 - news) (GLE) € 47.11 -2.08%
ArcelorMittal SA (MT) € 26.49 -2.05%
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