stocks, news, data and earnings

Shares of Germany’s Commerzbank rose nearly 3% on Tuesday, rising toward the top of the Stoxx 600 index. It comes shortly after the lender said Jutta Dönges will resign from the firm’s supervisory board.

U.K. equipment rental firm Ashtead, meanwhile, tumbled to the bottom of the benchmark regional index.

Shares of the London-listed company fell more than 11% after it proposed moving its primary listing to New York and warned of weaker-than-expected annual profit.

— Sam Meredith

Companies in the U.K. slowed their hiring efforts in 2024, recruitment site Indeed said Tuesday, as policies from the country’s new government created headwinds for employers.

New data from Indeed showed that as of Nov. 22, there had been a 24% year-on-year contraction in U.K. job postings on the platform.

It meant Britain saw a bigger slowdown in job openings than the U.S., France, Germany, Canada or Australia, according to Indeed’s data.

Indeed said in a press release that with new policies such as an increase in employer National Insurance contributions, a higher minimum wage and workers’ rights legislation, companies were likely to continue their cautious approach to hiring in 2025.

— Chloe Taylor

Oil giant Shell has settled a lawsuit it filed against Greenpeace U.K. last year after protestors boarded one of the company’s vessels.

In early 2023, Greenpeace activists boarded and occupied a Shell floating production, storage and offloading vessel while it was being transported in the Atlantic Ocean.

Shell announced Tuesday that the parties had come to a settlement which would see Greenpeace making a £300,000 ($382,804) payment to the U.K.’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

As part of the settlement, Greenpeace also signed a legally binding agreement prohibiting it from carrying out similar action at or near Shell’s key oil and gas platforms in the North Sea for five to 10 years, banning the organization from coming within 500 meters of Shell’s Penguins, Shearwater, Gannet, and Nelson platforms.

London-listed shares of Shell were 0.1% lower by 11:52 a.m. London time.

— Chloe Taylor

British energy company SSE said Tuesday that its electricity network subsidiary SSEN Transmission plans to invest at least £22 billion ($28 billion) in new grid infrastructure between 2026 and 2031. The firm added its plans would be submitted to the U.K.’s energy regulator, Ofgem, for approval.

Britain’s government has set a target to decarbonize the country’s electricity grid by 2030. SSE said its five-year investment plan would help “underpin the UK Government’s Clean Power by 2030 ambition.”

Shares of the London-listed firm were down 0.9% by 10:48 a.m. London time.

— Chloe Taylor

Stellantis and Chinese battery manufacturer CATL announced Tuesday that they would jointly invest up to €4.1 billion ($4.3 billion) in building a European battery factory.

The companies said the 50/50 joint venture would see the development of a new large-scale lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery plant in Zaragoza, Spain. Production at the facility is expected to begin by the end of 2026.

Milan-listed shares of Stellantis were up by around 0.5% at 10:00 a.m. London time.

Read more on the story here.

— Chloe Taylor

Shares of German software maker TeamViewer slid during early trade on Tuesday, losing just over 6% by 8:37 a.m. London time.

Earlier in the session, TeamViewer — which makes remote computer access software — announced it would acquire employee experience software maker 1E, with an enterprise value of $720 million.

TeamViewer CEO Oliver Steil said in a statement that the deal marked the company’s largest acquisition to date and would “accelerate enterprise growth, drive innovation and deliver greater value to our customers.”

— Chloe Taylor

German insurer Allianz lifted its financial targets on Tuesday, ahead of its 2024 Capital Markets Day in Munich.

The company pledged to return more money to its shareholders, aiming to boost earnings per share by 7% to 9% every year until 2027 — a rise from its 5%-7% target between 2021 and 2024. Allianz also said Tuesday it was targeting return on equity of at least 17%, up from its 13% target for the three years ending 2024.

The company said it saw revenue growth of 6% to 7% annually for its property-casualty division, which could bring in an operating profit of up to 9.5 billion euros ($10 billion) by 2027.

Allianz shares were down 1.2% on Tuesday morning.

— Chloe Taylor

Germany issued a final reading of its November inflation data on Tuesday, confirming the preliminary harmonized print of a 2.4% year-on-year increase, according to state news agency Destatis.

It noted that the November inflation was exacerbated by price hikes in the services sector, but benefitted from a “dampening effect” from energy prices.

— Chloe Taylor

Import and export data from China’s customs authority fell short of expectations on Tuesday.

Imports in U.S. dollar terms for November contracted 3.9% year-on-year, the biggest decrease since Sept. 2023. Meanwhile, exports were up 6.7% — but analysts polled by Reuters had anticipated a year-on-year rise of 8.5%.

Read the full story here.

— Chloe Taylor

Deutsche Bank has named seven London-listed companies in the business services sector as its top investment picks for 2025, highlighting shares with strong growth potential and defensive characteristics in an uncertain market environment.

One of the stocks has the potential to rise by more than 50% over the next 12 months, the bank said.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

European markets are expected to open in negative territory Tuesday.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 38 points lower at 8,315, Germany’s DAX down 76 points at 20,274, France’s CAC down 31 points at 7,454 and Italy’s FTSE MIB down 139 points at 34,429, according to data from IG.

There are no major earnings releases in Europe Tuesday. Data releases include final German inflation data for November.

— Holly Ellyatt