Hope you're keeping up

HOPE YOU'RE KEEPING UP

There has been a good amount going on in the first hour of trading, netting out to leave the STOXX 600 down around 0.3%. SXXP

Autos (.SXAP) are the biggest sector faller down about 1.4%, with wage talks at Volkswagen a key part of the news flow. The latest there is IG Metall union representative Thorsten Groeger saying a solution is still possible by Christmas provided that management takes a big step towards one.

The biggest single stock faller on the STOXX 600 is British retailer JD sports JD. which is down around 13% after it warned annual profit would come in at the lower end of its guided range.

Eyes are also on European chip makers. ASML ASML, Infineon IFX and ASM International ASM slipped, after AI chip leader and world's largest company by market value Nvidia NVDA forecast its slowest revenue growth in seven quarters.

The good news to balance that out is less headline grabbing but there have been a few more positive bits and pieces, including from Zurich Insurance ZURN which is up 2.1% to their highest price since March 2001 after Europe's fifth-largest insurer unveiled three-year targets a year early, setting goals for a core return on equity of more than 23% between 2025 and 2027.

(Alun John)

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