European shares fall ahead of busy earnings week
European shares fell on Monday (24 April), tracking losses in Asian markets as investors awaited more economic data this week and earnings from some of the highest-valued US companies, along with major European banks and consumer companies.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX slid 0.2% by 0710 GMT, with oil and gas shares .SXEP falling the most by 1.1%, as oil prices fell more than 1% on Monday on concerns about rising interest rates.
Healthcare shares .SXDP rose 0.4%, led by Philips NV PHG.AS, which jumped 10.8% after the Dutch health technology group posted better-than-expected first-quarter results.
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Investors will closely monitor results from some of the highest-valued US companies including Microsoft Corp MSFT.O, Google parent Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O and Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O this week.
Back home, big banks Barclays Plc BARC.L, Santander SAN.MC, Deutsche Bank AG DBKGn.DE, UBS Group AG UBSG.S, and consumer companies like Nestle SA NESN.S, Reckitt RKT.L and Unilever Plc ULVR.L report results this week.
Commentary from European Central Bank policymakers Fabio Panetta and Francois Villeroy de Galhau will be tracked closely for more clues on the ECB's monetary tightening path, while also Euro zone's flash estimates for GDP growth in April
Shares of Software AG SOWGn.DE skyrocketed 50.0% in early trade after private equity firm Silver Lake offered to buy the German software developer.
