European Stocks Rise as Novartis Raises Earnings Expectations
Introduction
European stocks rose at the close today, Tuesday, with Swiss stocks rising as Novartis Pharmaceutical Company raised its earnings expectations, but a sharp fall in Swedish (Tele2) stocks pushed the telecoms index to its lowest level in six months.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed up 0.6% after falling on Monday amid weak economic data from China, which affected the European luxury sector.
Shares of Novartis jumped 4.6% on the STOXX 600 index after the company raised its full-year profit forecast and outlined plans to spin off drug business Sandoz, whose royalties were confiscated, in early October, Reuters reported.
Swiss Index and European Health Sector
The Swiss index rose by 1.2%.
The European health sector index also rose 1.2% on the back of Sweden’s Orphan Biovitrum, which surged 3.4% after the pharmaceutical company posted solid quarterly earnings.
Telecommunications Sector
As for the telecommunications sector, it fell 0.9% to its lowest level since the end of December after shares (Tele2) fell 10.6% to their lowest level in five years after “mixed” results for the second quarter.
