Europe midday: Shares slip into red after touching record highs

(Sharecast News) - European shares hit a fresh intra-day high and then retreated into the red as the US government shutdown finally ended, while investors also assessed weak third-quarter GDP figures. The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was down 0.09% to 583.7 at 1200 GMT having hit a record 586.94 in the morning session after US President Donald Trump signed a funding bill into law, ending the longest federal government shutdown in history.

The measure will fund government operations until the end of January as the House of Representatives voted 222-209 in favour on Wednesday night.

"US futures are pointing up with Wall Street expected to build on yesterday's gains after a strong day for financials. Chipmaker AMD was the notable tech riser of the day as CEO Lisa Su came out with projections of 35% revenue growth over the next three-five years in the face of 'insatiable' demand for AI," said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Derren Nathan.

"Scale wise AMD is unlikely to rain on NVIDIA's parade, but its ambitious product roadmap has been well received, and the opportunity is big enough for it to retain a seat at the table."

On the equities front, Convatec shares jumped as the company said it was on track to meet financial targets.

Sabadell shares fell as the Spanish bank's lending income remained pressured in the third quarter, hit by lower interest rates.

Private equity and infrastructure investment firm 3i Group fell despite delivering a strong investment performance over the first half to 30 September, helped by solid gains from long-term hold asset, Action.

Italian asset gatherer Azimut slumped 12.5% after saying that a Bank of Italy inspection had highlighted significant shortfalls in its governance and organisational set-up.

Danish allergy immunotherapy specialist ALK-Abello fell after posting third-quarter results.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com