European Markets Mixed; Airline Stocks Drop

Airline stocks drag down markets as they warn recent terrorist attacks have hurt travel plans.
By Lisa Botter ,

European markets were mixed this morning ahead of the European Central Bank meeting. This is the first meeting since the U.K. voted to leave the European Union.

The ECB is not expected to change interest rates or unveil fresh stimulus. The central bank's main rate is at 0% and the deposit rate sits at minus 0.4%.

The euro rose 0.12% against the dollar this morning to $1.1028. In Frankfurt, the Dax was up 0.18% at 10,160.27 and the Cac 40 had recently gained 0.10% to 4,384.01 in Paris.

In London, the FTSE 100 was recently down 0.4% at 6,701.86.

Airline stocks have been hard hit in early morning trading in Europe.

In London, low-cost airline EasyJet (ESYJY) was recently down well over 5% after reporting earnings from a difficult third quarter. Total revenue for the quarter decreased by 2.6% to £1.2 billion.

The airline said performance was impacted by the attacks on the Brussels airport and the Egyptair crash. Performance was also hit by air traffic control strikes, runway closures at London's Gatwick airport and severe weather.

The owner of British Airways, International Consolidated Airlines (ICAGY) , had recently lost 3.04%. Air France-KLM (AFLYY) was down 4%.

Lufthansa (DLAKY) had shed 7.66% in morning trading after the German airline issued a profit warning. The company said that recent terrorist attacks have had an impact on travel plans, which would lead to a decline in full year earnings.

In a statement Lufthansa said advanced bookings have declined significantly due to terrorist attacks, and greater political and economic uncertainty in Europe. It expects unit revenue for the half year from July to December to fall between 8% and 9%.

In Frankfurt, Daimler (DDAIY) was recently up 1.28% after announcing earnings rose 5.6% to EUR3.97 billion.

Dow Jones Industrial Average mini futures were recently down 0.06% and S&P 500 mini futures were down 0.01%.

West Texas Intermediate was recently up 0.65% at $44.94 and Brent Crude was up 0.4% at $47.36 a barrel.

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