Jet2 shares drop 14% as travel firm dampens profit expectations
A Boeing 737-85P from Jet2 prepares for takeoff on the runway at Barcelona Airport in Barcelona, Spain, on December 2, 2024.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
LONDON — European stock markets were mixed on Thursday, as investors weigh up the fate of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs.
The Stoxx 600 index was up 0.15% in early deals, with France’s CAC 40 down 0.3% as Germany’s DAX and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3% and 0.15%, respectively.
Travel stocks were the worst-performers, down 0.9%. The sector was dragged down by an update from airline Jet2, which said it expected earnings before interest and taxes to come in at the lower end of a £449 – £496 million ($603-$666.8 million) consensus range this financial year.
Customers are leaving bookings later, reducing the company’s visibility over the remainder of summer and “much of winter seat capacity still to sell,” it said, also announcing plans to reduce the number of seats it plans to sell for the coming season and to “maintain attractive pricing.” Shares fell more than 20% in early deals before paring losses to around 14% by 8:45 a.m. in London.
French pharmaceutical group Sanofi dropped 10%, with JPMorgan analysts calling results from its latest dermatitis drug study weaker than expected.
Tariff tightrope
Traders are keeping a close eye on Trump’s tariffs landscape after a federal appeals court deemed most of the tariffs illegal last week. On Wednesday night, the president asked the Supreme Court to quickly accept and rule on an appeal seeking to overturn the lower court decision.
Trump is asking the Supreme Court to hear arguments on his appeal in early November and issue a final decision on the legality of the disputed tariffs soon afterward, according to filings obtained by NBC News from the plaintiffs in the case.
Wall Street will glean more insight into the labor market Thursday. The ADP private payrolls report is expected to show a softer print. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect private employers added 75,000 jobs in August, down from 104,000 jobs previously. The latest jobless claims data is expected to show a slight uptick.
Those reports come ahead of Friday’s big jobs report, which will determine the near-term outlook for a stock market that has been on edge.
Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose overnight following a tech rally overnight on Wall Street that lifted the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, even as growing fears around the economy weighed on stocks.
— CNBC’s Sarah Min and Erin Doherty contributed to this market report.
