Stocks fall after US retail data falls short of forecasts

European stocks fell after retail data in the US missed economist forecasts, triggering concerns about the strength of the economy. Sales at US retailers stalled in July when economists had expected a 0.4 per cent increase.

The lacklustre data erased some of the goodwill towards equities after a string of better-than-forecast financial results, while an economic report on Friday also confirmed that gross domestic product (GDP) for the euro zone grew 0.3 per cent in the second quarter, while the German economy expanded twice as fast as estimated.

DUBLIN

The Iseq finished out the week with a 1 per cent gain, as its biggest stocks advanced. Ryanair climbed 2.1 per cent in Dublin to €12.29, while building materials group CRH closed up almost 1.5 per cent at €28.41.

Insurance group FBD added 11.4 per cent to €6.85, a gain of 70 cent, after it published interim results that showed an improved performance on underwriting. The insurer’s pretax loss of €5.3 million was about half what analysts at Davy Research had expected.

Irish Continental recovered from a sluggish start to the session, closing up 2.2 per cent at €4.60, but paper and packaging group Smurfit Kappa saw its momentum slip over the course of the day and it ended down half a per cent at €21.40.

Drinks company C&C, insulation-maker Kingspan and the Green Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) were among the stocks to advance.

LONDON

The FTSE 100 index steadied on Friday after reaching a 14-month high, though mining stocks fell following a weak set of data from China. The blue-chip index closed flat in percentage terms, having touched its highest level since June 2015 earlier in the session.

Mining stocks slipped back as copper prices fell after some economic data from China, the world’s biggest metals consumer, missed market expectations. Shares in Antofagasta, Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Glencore and BHP Billiton all fell between 1.5 per cent to 3.4 per cent.

Outside of the blue chips, Restaurant Group, owner of Garfunkel’s and Frankie & Benny’s, soared nearly 11 per cent to record its biggest daily gain since March 2009 after the company ousted its chief executive, Danny Breithaupt, and replaced him with former Paddy Power boss Andy McCue.

Biotechnology firm Genus dropped over 8 per cent after a US District Court ruled against the company in patent litigation.

Tullow Oil advanced 4.2 per cent after analysts Bank of America upgraded its recommendation on the explorer to buy from neutral.

EUROPE

Commodity producers and automakers dragged the Stoxx Europe 600 Index down 0.2 per cent at the close, after it traded little changed for most of the day. The equity index, which erased its post-Brexit slump on Thursday, trimmed its weekly gain to 1.4 per cent.

In Germany, the Dax closed down 0.3 per cent, while in Paris, the Cac 40 slipped only 0.1 per cent.

Among stocks moving on corporate news, Danish conglomerate AP Moeller Maersk rose 3.1 per cent after the company, the biggest in Denmark, said it increased operational efficiency. Earnings before interest and tax came in at a higher-than-estimated $656 million, it said.

US

Wall Street stocks were lower on Friday afternoon, a day after major indices the S&P 500, the Dow Jones industrial average and the Nasdaq hit fresh highs – the first time since 1999 that all three indices closed at record levels on the same day.

Oil prices rose nearly 2 per cent as the dollar slipped following the release of the economic data. Exxon Mobil rose 1.4 per cent and gave the biggest boost to the Dow, while Chevron was up 0.5 per cent.

But seven of the 10 major S&P 500 indexes were lower, with the materials sector falling the most by 1.06 per cent. Financials followed with a 0.4 per cent decline.

Dow Chemical fell 2.1 per cent and was the top drag on the material index followed by DuPont’s 1.6 per cent drop, a day after European Union regulators opened a full investigation into their $130 billion merger deal.

Nordstrom rose 7.9 per cent to $51.3 after the department store chain operator reported better-than-expected comparable sales and quarterly profit.

(Additional reporting: Bloomberg / Reuters.)