European Stocks Mixed; Banks Help FTSE 100 Outperform By Investing.com – Investing.com

European Stocks Mixed; Banks Help FTSE 100 Outperform By Investing.com – Investing.com

© Reuters.

By Peter Nurse 

Investing.com - European stock markets traded mixed on Tuesday, with the banking sector helping the U.K.’s outperform following the scrapping of dividend curb by the Bank of England.

At 3:50 AM ET (0850 GMT), the in Germany traded 0.2% lower, the in France fell 0.2%, while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.3%.

Caution was the watchword, with a lot of the focus on the U.S. ahead of not only important inflation numbers but also the quarterly earnings reports from a number of major banks, including Goldman Sachs (NYSE:) and JPMorgan (NYSE:). These numbers are often used as a gauge of the health of the economy as it reopens. 

The banking sector has also been in the spotlight in Europe. Moody's (NYSE:) Investor Service cut the main debt rating of Credit Suisse (SIX:) to A1 from Aa3 in the wake of its problems with Greensill Capital and the collapsed hedge fund Archegos. Credit Suisse’s stock fell 0.1%.

In the U.K., the Bank of England scrapped pandemic-era curbs on dividends from the country’s top lenders with immediate effect, saying its stress test showed the sector is well capitalized to cope with