Breaking: European markets end Wednesday down as earnings hold spotlight; LOreal down 6%

LONDON — European stocks ended Wednesday’s session slightly negative as regional corporate earnings reports rolled in.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was almost 0.2% lower by the closing bell, with no broad consensus movement seen among sectors and major bourses.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 moves

Looking at individual stocks, British lenderBarclays raised its guidance and announced a £500 million ($667 million) share buyback in its third-quarter earnings on Wednesday. Its shares ended the day 4.9% higher.

L’Oreal stock finished down by 6.7% after quarterly growth disappointed markets, despite like-for-like sales growth of 3.4%, with sluggish North America sales and tariffs weighing on the French firm. It did, however, post growth in China. L’Oreal is set to purchase Gucci ownerKering’s beauty business.

The world’s second-largest brewer, Heineken, expects to sell less beer in 2025 as demand was softened by macroeconomic challenges in the third quarter. Beer volumes dropped by 2.3% in the third quarter. The firm narrowed its full-year forecast, predicting volumes will be towards the lower end of the 4% to 8% guidance. Its shares rose more than 1%.

Shares of Birkin bag maker Hermes closed down 2.3%, after the firm reportedweaker-than-expectedthird quarter sales of 3.9 billion euros. The figure marked a 10% jump from the same period a year earlier at constant exchange rates. Its leather goods and saddlery division — which includes handbags — led growth with a year-on-year constant currency sales boost of 13%, which the company labeled “a remarkable performance.”

In financial services, Norwegian lender DNB Bank generated a 10.27 billion Norwegian kroner ($1.02 billion) profit attributable to shareholdersduring the third quarter, narrowly beating consensus expectations of 10.17 billion.

However, the bank saw its net interest income total 15.99 billion Norwegian kroner, which was below analysts’ forecasts. DNB’s shares were down by 4.9% at the close of Wednesday’s session.

Meanwhile, shares in Svenska Handelsbanken gained 0.4% after the Swedish bank’s third-quarter earnings showed net interest income totaled 10.47 billion Swedish krona, in line with analysts’ forecasts. Meanwhile, net profit reached 5.95 billion Swedish krona, above analysts’ consensus expectations of around 5.79 Swedish krona.

Meanwhile, Randstad, the world’s largest recruitment firm, shed 6% of its share price after it reported a year-on-year drop in revenue, operating profit, and net income. Revenue fell 3.4% in the third quarter to 5.8 billion euros.

ITV sat alongside Randstad at the bottom of the European Stoxx 600 index, ending trading down 8.6%, as investors reacted to news that its largest shareholder Liberty Global has sold half of its shares in the broadcaster.

Novo Nordisk extended losses, ending the day down 3.3% as investors respond to news on Tuesday that board members will step down after clashing with the controlling shareholder,the Novo Nordisk Foundation, on the make-up of the firm.

Italian bank Unicredit also posted quarterly earnings above expectations on Wednesday, describing the three months to the end of September as a record quarter. Net profit came in at 2.6 billion euros ($3.02 billion), above a company-compiled average forecast of 2.4 billion euros.

Shares of the bank closed 2.3% lower.

Speaking to CNBC Wednesday, Unicredit CEO Andrea Orcel discussed his bank’s relationship with Commerzbank, which it has built a 26% stake in over the past year.

“I’ve not given up [on Commzerbank],” he told CNBC’s Silvia Amaro. ” We are observing, as an investor, how much more value they can create.”

Orcel had pushed for a full takeover of the German lender, but was met with continuous resistance from both the bank and the Berlin administration.

Orcel also noted that Unicredit was likely to raise its stake in Greek lender Alpha bank to around 30%.

The latest U.K. inflation figures revealed inflation was unchanged at 3.8% in September, beating expectations of a marginal rise.

U.S. President Donald Trump was due to hold talks about resolving the war with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Hungary in the next few weeks, but those have been put on hold, a U.S. official said Tuesday, NBC News reported.

The decision was reportedly made following a call between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Trump has seesawed over his support for Ukraine, suggesting last week that Kyiv should be ready to concede territory to Russia.