- European shares retreated from near six-month highs on Wednesday, with German stocks leading losses as chemicals producer Bayer headed for its biggest fall in 16 years following a U.S. court verdict on weed killer Roundup’s link to cancer.
Germany’s DAX lost more than 1 percent with Bayer down 12 percent after a San Francisco jury became the second to rule against Roundup, eight months after a $289 million award to claimants in a similar case. That award was later reduced to $78 million and is on appeal.“I’ve stayed well clear of Bayer since the Monsanto deal,” said one trader. “Bad deal, making the management look like they didn’t do their homework properly.
Although unchanged rates have been priced in, investors will be watching to see if the Fed’s dot plot, the diagram which shows individual committee members’ rate views for the coming three years, aligns with the patient approach the U.S. central bank has expressed. Carmaker BMW fell 4 percent after the company said it expected group pretax profit to fall by more than 10 percent in 2019 and announced a sweeping 12 billion euros cost savings and efficiency plan.
A weaker pound amid growing Brexit concerns and a selloff in blue-chip miners kept the exporter-heavy FTSE 100 mostly flat.