European markets turned negative Tuesday afternoon, as traders in the region continued to digest the latest slew of earnings reports and looked ahead to fresh corporate results stateside.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down 0.24% by 2:00 p.m. London time, with sectors and major bourses diverging. Banks and mining stocks added 0.7% while travel and leisure stocks slipped 1.48%.
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 slipped into the red, dipping 0.33%, as anticipation builds around a range of possible tax rises in the Labour government’s Wednesday budget.
Looking at individual stocks, HBSC‘s London-listed shares added 4.5% after it issued a third-quarter earnings report that beat analyst estimates and announced that it will repurchase up to $3 billion in shares.
Shares of Novartis fell 3.5%, despite the company raising its full-year guidance after reporting an uptick in third-quarter sales. CEO Vas Narasimhan told CNBC Tuesday he was confident the company can retain “consistent growth” by focusing on its range of around 15 blockbuster drugs, even as it steers clear of the GLP-1 weight loss drug market.
The stock pared losses slightly by mid-morning, and was last seen down 2.6%.