The Breaker Times

Shares of British American Tobacco pulled back Friday after the company said it was getting closer to settling long-standing litigation involving its Canadian unit.

The company said its Canadian subsidiary has been under a court-supervised mediation process to negotiate its outstanding legal action, and that a plan that could resolve this has been filed with a Canadian court.

Europe-traded shares of British American Tobacco were last down 3.4% at 1:34 p.m. London time, and the company was the biggest loser in the U.K.’s FTSE 100 according to data from the London Stock Exchange.

The European Central Bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve will likely cut interest rates at a relatively similar pace as their respective rate cutting cycles are underway, Konstantin Veit, portfolio manager at Pimco, told CNBC’s “Street Signs Europe” on Friday.

Veit said that there are good arguments for the ECB to cut faster than the Fed does, but also for the ECB to be slower than its U.S. counterpart. However, he thinks the pace of rate trims will be “fairly synchronized” between the two central banks.

The ECB on Thursday cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points for the third time this year. Stateside, the Fed has only reduced rates once this year — but by 50 basis points. One ECB meeting and two Fed meetings are still due to take place before the end of the year.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Luxury stocks climbed in Europe on Friday as investors considered the outlook for the Chinese economy and markets in the region.

Gucci-owner Kering was last up 5.07% at 9:48 a.m. ET, while Burberry rose 4.45% and LVMH added 3.1%. Other luxury brands including Hugo Boss and Christian Dior also gained ground.

“The latest announcements by China to support the economy as well as financial markets are giving a boost to luxury stocks today, on the view that this very poor earnings season may mark a tentative bottom for a sector where downturns are typically sharp but short-lived,” Swetha Ramachandran, global equities fund manager at Artemis Fund Managers, told CNBC on Friday.

Luxury stocks have been reactive to news out of key market China, as Beijing aims to boost its economy.

Data out of China on Friday showed that the country’s third-quarter GDP grew by 4.6% year-on-year, which was slightly higher than expected. Retail sales data for September also beat estimates, increasing by an annual 3.2%.

China’s central bank meanwhile signaled further monetary policy easing, with Governor Pan Gongsheng saying that the reserve requirement ratio for commercial banks could be cut further by the end of the year.

Emmanuel Cau, head European equity strategy at Barclays, told CNBC on Friday that the luxury stock moves appeared to be “a bounce on better China data.”

— Sophie Kiderlin

Cybersecurity firm Wiz is seeking to hit $1 billion of annual recurring revenues next year, the company’s billionaire co-founder Roy Reznik told CNBC, adding that the firm will go public “when the stars align.”

Earlier this year, the company rejected a $23-billion acquisition bid from Google, which would have marked the tech giant’s largest-ever takeover. At the time, Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport said the startup was “flattered” by the offer, but would remain an independent company and aim to list instead.

Read more here.

— Ryan Browne

Mainland China’s CSI 300 jumped 3.62% to close at 3,925.23. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up over 3.3% as of its final hour of trade.

China’s third-quarter GDP grew 4.6% compared to the same period last year, slightly above Reuters poll estimates but down from 4.7% in the previous quarter.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.18% to 38,981.75 while Topix was up slightly at 2,688.97.

Kospi slipped 0.59% to 2,593.85, while Kosdaq was down 1.55% to 753.22. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.87% lower to 8,283.2.

— Anniek Bao

Expectations coming into Europe’s third-quarter earnings season are “pretty low,” according to one fund manager, while the latest macroeconomic data suggests a more comparatively positive outlook for the U.S.

“The data we’re seeing from the macro level in the U.S. is more encouraging than Europe,” Clare Pleydell-Bouverie, fund manager at Liontrust Asset Management, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Friday.

“Going into a rate-cutting cycle with a resilient economy is a strong set-up for stocks. That said, the slowdown that we’re seeing in the Europe data, the PMIs, [European Central Bank President Christine] Lagarde pointed to this yesterday in her speech, a lot of this is being priced into the market,” Pleydell-Bouverie said.

“We’ve just started earnings season over here in Europe [and] expectations are pretty low. We’re looking at earnings growth expectations of just 3% for Europe. If you strip out financials, it’s negative 2%,” she continued.

“So, where we’re focused is looking for some of these really high-quality companies that you just don’t get very many options to buy into, who are trading at 20% discounts to their stock averages,” Pleydell-Bouverie added.

— Sam Meredith

European markets opened mixed on Friday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 last dipping by 0.06% at 8:06 a.m. London time.

Major regional bourses and sectors were mixed, with autos stocks last adding 1.17% and mining stocks rising by 1.69%. Telecomms, healthcare and utilities were among the sectors that pulled back.

Retail sales in the U.K. rose 0.3% in September, data published Friday by the country’s Office for National Statistics showed — reaching their highest level since July 2022.

Economists polled by Reuters had been expecting a 0.3% decline. Retail sales had increased by 1% in August.

Computer and telecoms retailers recorded strong growth, boosting non-food sales volumes, while food sales decreased in September, the ONS said.

“The wet weather didn’t deter the British public spending their money in September, as shown by stronger than expected retail sales,” Neil Birrell, chief investment officer at Premier Miton Investors, said in a note.

“This runs contrary to what consumer confidence data is telling us and indicates that wage growth is an important factor. The consumer sector is very important within the economy and even though this is just one month’s data, it suggests the economy is more robust than was thought.”

— Sophie Kiderlin

Volvo Group on Friday posted its third-quarter earnings, reporting a decline in sales and adjusted operating income compared to a year earlier.

Net sales fell by 12% to 117 billion Swedish krona ($11.1 billion), the company said, down from 132.3 billion Swedish krona in the same quarter a year ago.

Adjusted operating income came in at 14.1 billion Swedish krona in the third quarter of 2024, compared to 19.3 billion a year earlier.

Demand normalized in the third quarter across most of Volvo Group’s markets, Martin Lundstedt, president and CEO of the company, said in a statement Friday.

“We are seeing that freight and construction activity has come down in many regions across the world compared with the very high levels of last year,” he added.

Volvo Group manufactures buses, trucks and construction equipment.

— Sophie Kiderlin

European markets were headed for a mixed open on Friday.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 20 points lower at 8,369, Germany’s DAX is seen down 37 points at 19,548 and France’s CAC is expected to slip 17 points at 7,567.

Italy’s FTSE MIB, meanwhile, looks set tor reverse the trend, opening 77 points higher at 34,934, according to data from IG.

Earnings on Friday come from Volvo Group. On the data front, investors will be looking out for retail sales figures from the U.K.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Three London stocks are on the march and are expected to rise by more than 50% over the next 12 months.

CNBC Pro screened for stocks covered by analysts at RBC Capital Markets that have risen this year, have momentum behind them, and have an upside potential of more than 50%.

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— Ganesh Rao