2014.07.3107:51:15UTC+00European shares slip for the second day, dollar strengthens

European shares dropped for the second straight day as a new batch of corporate earnings was released following the cautious announcement from the US Federal Reserve.

The pan-European Euro Stoxx 600 Index shed 0.2% to 339.88, 8:44 am, London time. For the month of July, the index has already a total of 0.6% decline. Other markets are also in a downtrend, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index and the S&P 500 Index futures decreased by 0.3% and 0.2% respectively. UK’s FTSE 100 Index is provisionally lower, losing 0.24% or 16.55 pips to 6,757.53. Germany’s DAX Index and France’s CAC 40 Index are down by 0.92% or 87.98 pips to 9,505.49 and 0.63% or 27.02 pips to 4,285.28 respectively. The IBEX 35 Idx is also in the bandwagon, losing 1.82% or 199.30 pips to 10,738.10.

The second-largest sports equipment maker, Adidas AG, led the declines for the benchmark index after it lowered its profit forecast. It plummeted to its lowest in five years as it reported the slumping demand for golf equipment. Oil and gas major Royal Dutch Shell increased by 3.5% lifting the FTSE 100 early in the trade following its better-than-expected second-quarter earnings. Enel inched up by 1.2% after proposing a structural reorganization for the Italian utility.

Part of the sanctions the European Union, along with the US government, imposed against Russia to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to remove its support from the Ukraine turmoil was the freezing of assets of Russian oligarchs Arkady Rotenburg, who regulates SMP Bank and InvestCapitalBank OAO, and Yury Kovalchuk, the largest shareholder in OAO Bank Rossiya. The European Union that is made up of 28 nations added the two above plus six more in the blacklist due to their involvement in the Ukrainian tension. Other allegedly included as per Official Journal are Russian National Commercial Bank, Almaz-Antey, and Dobrolet.