European stocks fell on Thursday to hover near one-month lows, as new coronavirus cases continued to surge, U.S. stimulus hopes faded and the FBI warned of election interference by Iran and Russia, raising the risk of a disputed election result.
The pan European Stoxx 600 dropped 0.4 percent to 359.24 after losing 1.3 percent on Wednesday.
The German DAX, France's CAC 40 index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 all fell about half a percent.
Varta, a battery technology company in Germany, plunged 5 percent after extending the contract of its chief executive, Herbert Schein, until 2026.
Schneider Electric rose nearly 3 percent. The French energy-management company said it now expects sales for 2020 to fall between 5 percent and 7 percent vs. previous guidance of a drop between 7 percent and 10 percent.
Corporate services company Edenred climbed 2.3 percent after it returned to organic growth in the third quarter.
Thales fell 2.7 percent. The defense electronics group reiterated the lowered full-year goals it unveiled in July in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Spirits maker Pernod Ricard gained 2.7 percent. The company said that sales would return to growth in the second half of its 2020/2021 fiscal year.
Swiss specialty chemicals company Sika AG rallied 3.5 percent after the company confirmed its 2023 targets.
Consumer products giant Unilever edged up slightly after its sales growth came in far above expectations in the third quarter.
Spectris, a supplier of precision instrumentation and controls, fell 2.4 percent in London. The company's like-for-like sales declined 9 percent in the third quarter.
British Airways owner IAG declined 1.1 percent after slashing its flight schedule for the rest of the year.
Moneysupermarket.com plunged nearly 6 percent after it reported continued weakness in its insurance and money segments in the third quarter of the year.
Daily Mail And General Trust jumped about 4 percent. The newspaper publisher expects adjusted operating profit in the range of GBP85 and GBP90 million for the year to September 30, well above analyst expectations of between GBP59 million and GBP80 million.
In economic releases, market research group Gfk said its forward-looking consumer sentiment index for Germany fell more-than-expected to -3.1 from -1.7 in October.
All three sub components, namely economic and income expectations and the propensity to buy declined in October. After five rises in a row, the economic sentiment decreased seventeen points to 7.1 points in October.
French business confidence weakened in October, monthly survey data from the statistical office Insee showed. The manufacturing confidence index fell unexpectedly to 93 in October from September's revised score of 94. The expected reading was 96.0.
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