Europe midday: Shares slide into red as eurozone sentiment dips

(Sharecast News) - European shares slipped into the red at midday on Thursday, giving up morning gains as traders assessed the impact of chip maker Nvidia's results overnight and a dip in eurozone economic sentiment. The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was down 0.29% to 553 at 1216 BST. France's CAC 40 fell 0.04% amid political volatility around the government's budget plans.

Nvidia, which supplies chips to the world's tech giants, saw its shares fall despite a consensus-beating revenue in the second quarter, as investors fretted about sales in China.

"Shares have held onto overnight losses, despite an upbeat earnings call, as the absence of China sales in guidance surprised investors," said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Matt Britzman.

"Remarkably, revenue still surged at an unprecedented pace without contributions from one of its key markets, while management struck a confident tone on demand for AI chips and the scaling of Blackwell and Blackwell Ultra."

On the economics front, economic sentiment in the eurozone dipped in August, according to a survey released on Thursday.

The European Commission's economic sentiment indicator for the eurozone nudged down to 95.2 from 95.7 in July, while the indicator for the European Union ticked 0.3 points lower to 94.9.

Meanwhile, the employment expectations indicator for the euro area nudged up 0.3 points to 97.8, while the indicator for the EU was 0.6 points higher at 98.1.

In equity news, Pernod Ricard shares rose despite the drinks giant reporting a 3% fall in annual sales on the back of weak consumer sentiment in China and tariff uncertainty in the US.

Shares in UK biomass energy supplier Drax slumped on news of a regulatory probe into raw material sourcing.

Delivery Hero was higher as the German online takeaway food company reported slightly better-than-expected second quarter revenue growth.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com