STOXX 600 ends lower with earnings season in full swing
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Deutsche Bank falls as loan loss provisions weigh
Volvo Cars slides after cutting forecast on market slowdown
Weak growth data raises questions about recovery, Lane says
Thule tops STOXX 600 index as Q3 beats estimates
Updated at 1604 GMT
By Paolo Laudani, Ankika Biswas and Johann M Cherian
Oct 23 (Reuters) -European shares closed Wednesday's choppy session in the red, with mining stocks among top drags, while weak earnings from heavyweights such as Germany's largest lender Deutsche Bank and beauty giant L'Oreal pressured sentiment further.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX declined 0.3%, with bourses in major markets Germany .GDAXI, France .FCHI and Italy .FTMIB also finishing lower.
Basic resources .SXPP was the worst-hit sector, losing 1.4%, with Sweden's Boliden BOL.ST falling 2.3% following a UBS rating downgrade to "sell" from "neutral".
Earnings took centre stage with Deutsche Bank shares DBKGn.DE losing 2% after the lender raised its forecast for bad loansagainst the backdrop of a weak German economy, which overshadowed its return to profit in the third quarter.
The stock was among top losers on the DAX and the European bank index .SX7E dropped 0.5%.
"While the stubbornly high provisions are a clear negative, we consider that some confidence was given by the guidance pointing to lower provisions for the fourth quarter and also for 2025," said Suvi Platerink Kosonen, senior sector strategist, financials at ING Bank.
L'Oreal OREP.PA stock fell 2.5% to the bottom of the CAC 40 after missing third-quarter sales estimates due to reduced beauty products demand in China and slower growth for its dermatological division.
On the flip side, automobiles .SXAP led sectoral gains with Stellantis STLAM.MI up 3%. Sweden-based Volvo Cars VOLCARb.ST dropped 5.9% to the bottom of the STOXX index after cutting its full-year sales growth forecast.
Apart from corporate earnings, all eyes are on the still-too-tight-to-call U.S. election and the trajectory of interest rate cuts across major central banks.
European Central Bank chief economist Philip Lane said the recent flow of relatively weak data on the euro zone economy has raised questions about the bloc's recovery prospects.
Worries are that sluggish economic growth in the currency union could reflect in corporate performance this quarter. The STOXX 600 index has made negligible progress from levels first hit in mid-May this year.
Of the STOXX 600 companies to have reported third-quarter earnings, 35.3% have beaten expectations, LSEG data showed on Tuesday, versus the typical beat rate of 54%.
Among others, Akzo Nobel AKZO.AS lost 3.5% after announcing third-quarter sales and core profit misses.
Utilities .SX6P were the biggest boost to the STOXX index, with Iberdrola IBE.MC up 1.5% after giving a bullish forecast for the coming years.
The financial services sector .SXFP weakened, with London-listed Man Group EMG.L dropping 2.7% following a UBS rating downgrade to "neutral" from "buy".
Thule THULE.ST topped the STOXX 600 index, climbing 15.3%, following better-than-expected earnings, with Cargotec CGCBV.HE right behind, up 9%, after raising its full-year outlook.
Reporting by Paolo Laudani in Gdansk, Ankika Biswas and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Emelia Sithole-Matarise
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