Markets digest corporate earnings and Fed Rate

Stocks in Europe closed under the weather as investors awaited the United States Federal Reserve's interest rate decision scheduled for later in the day. Markets also digested corporate earnings as major banks, including Commerzbank, Societe Generale and UniCredit, reported their earnings.

Commerzbank AG's earnings per share landed 54.1% lower on an annual scale, at €0.17 per share on attributable earnings of €218 million, or 53.3% down from the third quarter of last year. Societe Generale SA reported its revenue for the third quarter of the fiscal 2018 revenue stood at €6.5 billion, marking a 9% increase compared to the same period of last year. UniCredit SpA published revenues of €4.72 billion for the third quarter, revealing a year-over-year drop of 2.14%.

The Euro Stoxx 50 declined 0.41% and the DAX fell 0.45%. Fresenius was the worst performer on both indexes as it slid 3.31%. The CAC 40 was down 0.13%. Legrand led the losses as its shares tumbled 4.27%. The FTSE 100 was the only index to end higher, closing 0.33% in the green. Coca-Cola, whose stock surged 4.71%, contributed most to the gains.

Google Expanding

Google Inc. is planning an expansion of its New York City offices by buying or leasing a new office building in Manhattan's West Village and expanding its current office space in Chelsea Market. The company will add approximately 12,000 new workers with the expansion, planning to almost double the number of staff in New York.

The tech giant's expansion in New York is the latest amid big tech companies moving to the east coast of the United States. Amazon.com Inc. said earlier last week that it is planning to split its headquarters between two locations, with approximately 25,000 in each of the places. The online retail giant decided to expand beyond its Seattle headquarters in search for more talent.

Google did not comment on the West Village purchase reports, but its spokeswoman confirmed the tech giant plans to expand its Chelsea Market venue, which it bought in March for $2.4 billion.

Draghi – EU needs to prepare for no Brexit deal

President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi said that it is very important for Brussels to prepare for a scenario where no deal is reached with London over United Kingdom's divorce from the European Union in March next year. Speaking at the Irish Parliament, Draghi reminded that Ireland, more than the rest of Eurozone, can suffer negative impact from a potential no-deal Brexit due to its close trade relationship with the UK.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to ask for more time from the European leaders to present a final Brexit agreement to her cabinet ministers, as they saw only a draft text not including the clause addressing the Irish backstop. UK media reported earlier today that the final withdrawal agreement could be published on Tuesday.