Europe's corporate recession less severe than feared - Refinitiv

Earnings expectations for European listed companies for the third quarter improved again, but not enough for the region to escape the corporate recession it is stuck in, data published on Wednesday showed.

Companies listed on the pan-European STOXX 600 index are expected to report a 4.7% decline in earnings for the July-September quarter, compared with a 6.6% drop expected a week ago, according to the latest data from I/B/E/S Refinitiv.

Expectations had fallen as low as 8.6% at the end of October.

Overall, the current earnings season is still set for its the third straight decline and worst quarterly performance since Q3 2016. So far, based on the companies which have already published their results, profits have fallen 6.2%.

Revenues in the quarter are now expected to rise 1.5% versus last week's expectation of 0.8%.

(Reporting by Julien Ponthus; editing by Tom Wilson)