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Europe stocks close lower after cool U.S. inflation print; Ocado up 10%

People walk along the Chatelet Les Halles area of Paris during the snowfall of Storm Caetano.
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This was CNBC's live blog covering European markets.

European markets gave up earlier gains to close lower Tuesday, as global investors assessed a cooler-than-expected U.S. producer price index.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.08% lower as sectors turned mixed.

Oil and gas stocks were among the worst performers, down 0.73%, after oil giant BP said its fourth-quarter profit would be dented by up to $300 million in light of weakening refinery margins.

Retail stocks were also pulled into negative territory, as British sportswear retailer JD Sports tumbled near the bottom of the Stoxx 600 after lowering its profit guidance.

At the other end of the index was British grocery retailer Ocado, which climbed 9.6% after reporting record Christmas sales.

Stateside, all eyes were on the reading of wholesale prices ahead of Wednesday's consumer price index.

Producer prices increased just 0.2% in December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said, below a Dow Jones forecast of 0.4%. U.S. stocks were flat as traders parse the next steps of the U.S. Federal Reserve.

U.K. assets remained under pressure ahead of the country's own CPI release on Wednesday. Gilt yields broadly hovered just above the flatline following their recent spike, while the U.S. dollar and euro both strengthened against sterling.

French bond yields were also slightly higher after the country's new prime minister, Francois Bayrou, announced a cut in the country's 2025 growth forecast to 0.9% from 1.1%.

— CNBC's Brian Evans contributed to this market summary.

Europe stocks close lower

Europe's Stoxx 600 index closed in the red for a third straight session on Tuesday despite posting gains earlier in the session.

The pan-European index fell 0.08%, despite positive momentum returning to Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40, which rose 0.69% and 0.2%, respectively. The U.K. weighed on the regional picture, with the FTSE 100 down 0.28%.

— Jenni Reid

France cuts growth forecast, announces deficit target

The French government has cut its economic growth forecast for 2025 to 0.9% from 1.1%, Prime Minister Francois Bayrou announced in a wide-ranging address to lawmakers on Tuesday.

Bayrou, who took office in December amid intense political volatility in the country's hung parliament, said the previous forecast was made before the collapse of his short-serving predecessor Michel Barnier's government. He added that the new outlook was in line with that of the Bank of France.

Bayrou also said the government would target a public deficit of 5.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) this year. The deficit is expected to have been around 6.1% in 2024, and economists expect it to rise further without fiscal reform.

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou (L) delivers a general policy statement to MPs at the National Assembly in Paris on January 14, 2025. 
Thomas Samson | Afp | Getty Images
French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou (L) delivers a general policy statement to MPs at the National Assembly in Paris on January 14, 2025. 

The size of French debt is a key concern for investors who have driven up French borrowing costs over the last year, and has come into focus after the European Union introduced new rules stating a member nation's budget deficit should not exceed 3% of GDP.

However, since France's July election delivered no parliamentary majority, the government has struggled to pass a 2025 budget that would move toward that goal with measures opposed by left-wing and hard-right factions.

Bayrou said Tuesday the budget must be passed "without delay." He added that he could bring the subject of the contentious pension reforms signed into law in 2023 back under discussion in an apparent concession to the leftist lawmakers he requires support from.

— Jenni Reid

U.S. stocks open higher Tuesday

U.S. stocks started Tuesday's session on a positive note.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 180 points, or 0.4%. The S&P 500 rose 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.7%.

— Hakyung Kim

U.K. housebuilder Persimmon among Stoxx 600's top movers

Shares of FTSE100 housebuilder Persimmon were up 6% Tuesday after the company said full-year underlying profit is expected to be at the higher end of market's expectations.

"This chimes with what we are seeing on the ground that the housing market is performing better than the share prices so far this year suggests," said RBC Capital Market's Anthony Codling.

Shares of its peers Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Redrow were also higher in afternoon trading.

The analysts however cautioned that Persimmon shares are already valued at a premium, compared to the sector and might underperform in the year ahead.

— Ganesh Rao

Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo says it sees benefits from staying clear of consolidation

Italy's largest bank Intesa Sanpaolo sees an upside to staying out of the current trend of consolidation enveloping the country, CEO Carlo Messina said Tuesday, amid rising M&A prospects in the Italian banking sector.

His comments, given at a business conference in Milan and reported by Reuters, come as Italy's second largest lender UniCredit has launched two separate takeover bids for domestic rival Banco BPM and Germany's Commerzbank. Banco BPM has ambitions to acquire control of fund manager Anima Holding.

Banking consolidation efforts can typically use up logistical resources during integration and pose distractions to management boards, analysts have warned.

Ruxandra Iordache

Volkswagen sales drop

Volkswagens are seen in the employee parking lot at the Volkswagen automobile assembly plant on March 20, 2024 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Elijah Nouvelage | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Volkswagens are seen in the employee parking lot at the Volkswagen automobile assembly plant on March 20, 2024 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

German carmaker Volkswagen said in an update on Tuesday that its global sales fell by over 2% year-on-year in 2024, with the company delivering just over 9 million vehicles.

In China, sales were down almost 10%, while the company's home market of Germany saw a sales contraction of 2% from a year earlier.

CEO Oliver Blume said in a statement that Volkswagen had been grappling with "a challenging market environment."

Shares of Volkswagen were 1.5% higher at 11:43 a.m. London time.

— Chloe Taylor

UK antitrust regulator opens probe into Google’s search services

Britain's competition watchdog on Tuesday said it was opening a formal antitrust investigation into Google's search and search advertising services.

Read the full story here.

— Ryan Browne

Games Workshop shares fall

Newscast | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

Shares of Games Workshop, manufacturer of miniature wargames such as Warhammer, fell 2.5% by 10:01 a.m. London time.

The company reported half-year revenues of £269.4 million ($329.1 million), up from £235.6 million a year earlier. Dividends decreased, however, with the pay-out per share coming in at £1.85, lower than the £1.95 for the first half of 2023.

— Chloe Taylor

Card factory shares up 8.5%

A Card Factory shop in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, in 2020.
Nathan Stirk | Getty Images News | Getty Images
A Card Factory shop in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, in 2020.

London-listed retailer Card Factory's shares shot up by more than 8% after releasing a merry fourth-quarter financial result.

The company reported that total sales rose by 6.2% to £506.6 million ($619.13 million) for the 11 months to Dec. 31 as the retailer added 32 new stores to its portfolio.

"It was a good Christmas for CARD, taking market share and outperforming the broader market," Investec analyst Kate Calvert said in a note to clients Tuesday morning.

— Ganesh Rao

Ocado shares gain 12%

Ocado online supermarket delivery van.
Mike Kemp | In Pictures | Getty Images
Ocado online supermarket delivery van.

Shares of Ocado were up 12.6% by 9:04 a.m. London time, after the British online grocery retailer reported record-breaking Christmas sales for its Ocado Retail unit — a joint venture with U.K. retail giant M&S.

The division's fourth-quarter revenues were up 17.5% year on year at £715.8 million ($873.5 million), with sales volumes jumping 17%, according to a trading update released on Tuesday.

— Chloe Taylor

Amazon orders 200 electric trucks from Daimler

Visitors look at the new Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 electric truck at the IAA Transportation 2024 event in Hanover, Germany, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. 
Krisztian Bocsi | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Visitors look at the new Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 electric truck at the IAA Transportation 2024 event in Hanover, Germany, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. 

Daimler Truck announced Tuesday that Amazon had placed an order for more than 200 of its eActros 600 vehicles for use in the U.K. and Germany.

It marked the tech giant's biggest ever order of electric heavy goods vehicles, Daimler said, and the largest e-truck contract to date for Mercedes-Benz trucks. Daimler produces trucks that are marketed under various brands, including Mercedes-Benz.

The vehicles will join Amazon's fleet this year, and are expected to transport more than 350 million packages annually.

Shares of Daimler were up 1.8% at 8:43 a.m. in London.

Chloe Taylor

JD Sports shares tumble

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - 2021/05/17: A scene outside JD sport shop. (Photo by May James/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - 2021/05/17: A scene outside JD sport shop. (Photo by May James/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Shares of British sportswear retailer JD Sports were down 10.5% at 8:20 a.m. London time, after the company posted a trading update in which it downgraded its profit guidance.

JD Sports said it now expected pretax profit before adjusting items to come in between £915 million ($1.12 billion) and £935 million for its fiscal year. Back in November, the firm had given a guidance range of £955 million to £1.035 billion.

— Chloe Taylor

Weaker refinery margins to ripple into BP fourth-quarter results

British energy major BP on Tuesday said that weaker refinery margins and turnaround activity will deliver a $100 million to $300 million blow to its fourth-quarter profit, with further declines expected in oil production.

The company, which reports quarterly and full-year 2024 earnings on Feb. 11, said in a trading update that the results of its oil production and operations segment will lead to a $200 million to $400 million dent in the fourth quarter, given price lags on its output in the Gulf of Mexico and the UAE. Oil trading performance is consequently expected to be weak across the period.

BP said that its activity in gas and low-carbon energy will boost fourth-quarter results by $100 million to $200 million, including changes in prices that are not linked to the Henry Hub gas marker. The major forecasts gas trading to be "average" during the timeframe, despite this.

In the upstream segment, BP anticipates lower fourth-quarter output than in the third quarter across both oil and gas and low carbon. Despite this, the company sees overall full-year 2024 production as coming in "slightly higher" than in 2023.

More broadly, the company expects non-cash, post-tax charges connected to $1 billion to $2 billion of impairments across all of its segments in the fourth quarter.

British oil and gasoline company BP (British Petroleum) signage is being pictured in Warsaw, Poland, on July 29, 2024.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
British oil and gasoline company BP (British Petroleum) signage is being pictured in Warsaw, Poland, on July 29, 2024.

BP has been weathering the storm of oil price declines hitting revenues and scandals associated with the departure of former chief Bernard Looney. CEO Murray Auchincloss is expected to leverage the company's capital markets event to bolster confidence in the major's strategy.

On Tuesday, BP said that the event, previously scheduled for Feb. 11 in New York, has been postponed to Feb. 26 in London. It further noted that Auchincloss is "recovering well" from a planned medical procedure and will return to office next month.

BP shares were down 2.75% at 08:02 a.m. London time, just after open.

 — Ruxandra Iordache

Euro, sterling gain ground

After hitting multi-year lows against the U.S. dollar on Monday, Europe's major currencies gained momentum on Tuesday morning.

The euro and the British pound were both up by around 0.1% at 7:33 a.m. London time. The dollar index — which measures the greenback against a basket of rival currencies — hit its highest level in more than two years on Monday, following hotter-than-expected U.S. jobs data late last week.

Chloe Taylor

CNBC Pro: Tech stocks ruled in 2024. One pro picks 3 under-the-radar stocks to play this year

Tech stocks continued to reign supreme among investors in 2024 with many investors favoring some of the so-called Magnificent Seven stocks of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla, as well as other lesser-known small- and medium-sized companies.

Principal Asset Management's Martin Frandsen continues to see potential in the Magnificent Seven this year, but also sees value in other stocks within the sector.

Elsewhere, Michele Schneider, chief market strategist at Marketgauge.com sees opportunities in a range of high-growth sectors that are "poised to offer substantial returns for strategic reallocations of undervalued assets."

She also revealed three tech stocks she's betting on right now.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Amala Balakrishner

S&P 500, Dow close higher while Nasdaq falls Monday

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Monday's session in the green.

The broad market index added 0.16%, while the Dow rose 0.86%.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite underperformed the market and closed 0.38% lower.

— Hakyung Kim

European markets: Here are the opening calls

European markets are expected to open higher Tuesday.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 4 points higher at 8,226, Germany's DAX up 106 points at 20,241, France's CAC up 66 points at 7,472 and Italy's FTSE MIB up 272 points at 35,082, according to data from IG.

Trading updates are set to come from Ocado, JD Sports, Persimmon and OMV on Tuesday. Lindt & Sprüngli will release its latest earnings.

— Holly Ellyatt

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