By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch

Roche climbs and TomTom drops after respective results

A day after hitting their best levels in 16 months, European stocks struggled Wednesday, weighed by concerns over a Brexit deal and fresh signs of tensions between the U.S. and China.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was flat at 393.63, after finishing Tuesday's session 1.1% higher at 394.02, its best level since May 22, 2018. Stocks got a boost in part from better-than-forecast U.S earnings.

The German DAX inched up 0.2% to 12,655.37, while the French CAC 40 was flat at 5,697.33. The U.K. FTSE 100 slipped 0.1% to 7,201.08, while the British pound also fell across the board after EU and U.K. negotiators failed to reach a breakthrough (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pressure-is-on-for-brexit-negotiators-as-all-night-talks-fail-to-yield-a-breakthrough-2019-10-16) in all-night Brussels talks which will continue today.

Read: Pound slides after report EU refers to Brexit deal as impossible without more U.K. concessions (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pound-slides-after-report-eu-refers-to-brexit-deal-impossible-without-uk-concession-2019-10-16)

Efforts to reach an exit-deal for the U.K. ahead of Thursdays EU summit will now go down to the wire. The pound , which has swung back and forth in recent sessions on Brexit headlines, fell 0.3% to $1.2751 against the dollar.

Losses for Europe also came as U.S. stock futures fell on concerns over rising tensions between Washington and Beijing getting in the way of progress over trade talks. China threatened retaliation against the U.S (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-vows-strong-countermeasures-in-wake-of-us-bill-supporting-hong-kong-protesters-2019-10-16). if a bill aimed at supporting Hong Kong protesters becomes law.

Earnings were also rolling in for Europe, with chip maker ASML (ASML.AE) (ASML.AE) down 0.9% after posting a 7.9% fall (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chipmaker-asml-posts-profit-fall-introduces-interim-dividend-2019-10-16) in third-quarter profits. Meanwhile, shares of TomTom (TOM2.AE) slid 5% after the satellite navigation company swung to a net loss in the third quarter (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tomtom-swings-to-net-loss-2019-10-16).

On the upside, shares of Roche Holding (ROG.EB) rose 0.5% after the pharmaceutical giant said its outlook is improving as revenue grows (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/roche-says-outlook-is-improving-as-revenue-grows-2019-10-16-3103449).

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 16, 2019 06:34 ET (10:34 GMT)

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