Bayer shares pop 13% after Trump administration backs curbing of Roundup lawsuits; European stocks mixed
Bottles of Roundup, a brand owned by Bayer, are seen for sale in a store in New York City. June 30, 2022.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
LONDON — European stocks traded in mixed territory on Tuesday, with shares struggling to find momentum after a broad sell-off marked the first day of the new month.
Shortly after the opening bell, the pan-European Stoxx 600 hovered just above the flatline, with no consensus movement seen among sectors and major bourses.
Utilities stocks led gains in Europe on Tuesday, with the Stoxx Europe Utilities index adding 0.4% in early trade. The sector is widely seen as a stable bet in times of market turbulence.
Winners in the index included wind energy giant Orsted, up 2.2%, electric utilities firm EDP, which gained 1%, and British energy firm SSE, up 0.9%.
Regional stocks traded lower on Monday, marking a gloomy start to the last trading month of the year in which investors are now expecting the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut interest rates when it meets on Dec. 9-10. Traders are pricing in an 87.2% chance of a quarter-point rate cut, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
The Bank of England is also closely monitoring the Fed for any potential spillover effects, Megan Greene, who sits on the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England, told CNBC Monday.
“About half the moves in our curve actually are generated entirely outside the U.K.,” Greene told CNBC’s Ritika Gupta on Monday.
The BOE has not committed to cutting rates in December but economists broadly expect the central bank to do so giving signs of cooling inflation, likely to be encouraged further by disinflationary measures in last week’s Autumn Budget, as well as lackluster growth and a weakening labor market.
In corporate news, German biotech giant Bayer won support from the Trump administration on Monday to curb U.S. litigation related to its Roundup weedkiller. Shares of the company were last seen 12.5% higher.
The company faces thousands of lawsuits alleging the weedkiller has caused health issues including cancer and has already paid billions of dollars to claimants.
U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer urged the Supreme Court on Monday to limit the lawsuits brought against Bayer, supporting the firm’s argument that federal law on pesticides preempts claims made under state law.
“The support of the U.S. Government is an important step and good news for U.S. farmers, who need regulatory clarity,” Bayer CEO Bill Anderson said in a statement on Tuesday. “The stakes could not be higher as the misapplication of federal law jeopardizes the availability of innovative tools for farmers and investments in the broader U.S. economy.”
Bayer acquired Roundup maker Monsanto for more than $60 billion in 2018.
Shares of Spanish lender Santander rose 1% after the company sold a 3.5% stake in its Polish subsidiary Santander Polska for around $473 million. The deal leaves the bank with a 9.7% stake in its Polish unit, according to news agency Reuters.
U.S. stock futures were relatively flat Monday night after a weak start to December trading while Asia-Pacific markets traded mostly higher.
On Tuesday in Europe, there are no major earnings. Data releases include Spanish and Italian unemployment figures and EU inflation data.
