LIVE MARKETS-What are European stocks pricing in?

Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com

WHAT ARE EUROPEAN STOCKS PRICING IN?

European stocks have flirted with a bear market this month, falling by as much as 17.9% from their March peak, as tariff panic raised the spectre of a global recession that could hurt earnings.

But what exactly is priced in?

Barclays has done the maths to conclude that while stagnation appears to be factored in, a full-blown recession is not.

Should the economy contract - a scenario that would require confirmation from hard data - earnings forecasts and valuations could fall further, it says.

Barclays sees no growth this year for Europe Inc, under its top-down forecast, while the consensus still points to 6%.

"The good news is that price action in equities has moved ahead and is already reflecting ~0% EPS growth for now. However, there could still be significant downside to both earnings and valuations in case of a full-blown recession."

(Danilo Masoni)

WEDNESDAY'S OTHER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:

TECH SECTOR PULLS STOXX 600 LOWER CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: FUTURES FALL AS TRADE TENSIONS TAKE ANOTHER TURN CLICK HERE

MARKETS WOBBLE OVER US-CHINA WRANGLING CLICK HERE