European stocks mixed; Ericsson up 7%; UK wage growth eases to two-year low

The U.K. labor market snapshot released by the Office of National Statistics on Tuesday is broadly supportive of a Bank of England rate cut in November, according to analysts.

Wage growth met forecasts and slowed to the lowest level in more than two years, while the jobs market was relatively stable, with unemployment dipping to 4% from 4.1%.

"The gradual cooling of the U.K. labour market continues, with wage growth easing further and vacancies continuing to trend down. There's little in the figures to change expectations of a steady pace of interest rate cuts from the Bank of England over coming months," Jack Kennedy, senior economist at Indeed, said in a note.

The BOE cut rates by 25 basis points in August and held them steady in September. Markets are pricing in an 83% probability of a November rate cut as of Tuesday morning.

Ashley Webb, U.K. economist at Capital Economics, said the ONS figures added "further support" to expectations of a rate cut to 4.75% from 5% next month. Thomas Pugh, economist RSM UK, said the door would be "wide open" for a November cut as long as inflation figures — due out Wednesday — fall as expected.

"We expect private sector pay growth to slow gradually over the rest of this year, that would give the [Monetary Policy Committee] ample cover to cut rates again towards the end of the year, probably in November," Pugh said.

"What happens after December is likely to be influenced by the budget, a more expansionary budget using debt funding to boost investment may mean the MPC opts to cut rates quarterly rather than sequentially."

The U.K.'s Labour government is due to deliver its first budget at the end of October.

— Jenni Reid

Shares of Swedish telecom equipment manufacturer Ericsson were 9% higher at 8:24 a.m. London time after the company's third-quarter results beat sales and earnings forecasts in an LSEG-compiled poll.

"This has been a challenging market for various reasons for quite some time, but we have also taken a lot of actions to start to adjust the way we operate, our internal priorities, how we work with customers, et cetera. And all of that is coming through, so we're starting to see a gradual recovery," Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Tuesday.

The company's annual sales fell 1% year on year on an organic basis. Ekholm said the decline is "much lower than it's been before," a sign that the market is "stabilizing."

"North America was the first to roll out 5G and of course, they were also the first to therefore slow down the pace, but they are now coming back. So I think it feels a bit of optimism that we can see coming here," he said.

Ericsson reported 55% sales growth in North America for the quarter, which Ekholm said had been boosted by the large AT&T contract it secured late last year.

— Jenni Reid

Stoxx 600 index.

European stocks opened broadly higher Tuesday, with the Stoxx 600 index up by 0.34% at 8:15 a.m. in London.

However, major bourses were mixed, with Germany's DAX up 0.52% as France's CAC 40 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell by 0.13% and 0.08%, respectively.

— Jenni Reid

Average U.K. wages excluding bonuses rose 4.9% annually in the June to August period, in line with the forecast in a Reuters poll and down from 5.1% in May to July.

The Office for National Statistics said growth in earnings including bonuses was 3.8%, but noted annual rates were affected by one-off health and civil service payments made over the summer.

According to the ONS' flash estimate, median monthly pay in September was £2,397 ($3,126), up 5.3% year on year but a dip from £2,413 the previous month.

The number of payrolled employees was "largely unchanged" in September on the previous month, it said.

— Jenni Reid

Sweden's Ericsson reported a 4% year-on-year decline in net sales for the third quarter, as 55% growth in North America — where it provides 5G network equipment — failed to pull up declines in other markets.

The telecom manufacturer posted adjusted core earnings of 7.3 billion Swedish kronor ($699 million), a swing from the 28 billion krona loss in the same period the year before. Earnings were also ahead of the 5.75 billion kronor forecast in an LSEG poll of analysts, according to Reuters.

Sales were 9% lower across the first nine months of the year for the company, which has announced a new strategy and job cuts this year as 5G spending wanes.

— Jenni Reid

The popularity of anime — or animation produced in Japan — has boomed in recent years, and several global entertainment companies are leading in, according to Jefferies.

"Many companies are now positioning anime-related businesses as core to their growth strategies," the investment bank's analysts said in an Oct. 9 equity research note.

Looking ahead, they expect the market to double from $31.2 billion in 2023 to $60.1 billion by 2030, based on estimates from Grand View Research.

CNBC Pro subscribers can click here to read more on three stocks Jefferies expects to benefit.

— Amala Balakrishner

Nvidia shares ended Monday's session at an all-time closing high, bringing the chipmaker's market cap above $3.4 trillion.

The stock jumped 2.4% to finish the session at $138.07, beating its prior closing high of $135.58 seen June 18. Shares are now up more than 178% in 2024 alone as the artificial intelligence boom continues taking Wall Street by storm.

Nvidia is the second-most valuable publicly traded U.S. company. It's currently behind Apple, which has a market cap of about $3.55 trillion.

Nvidia, all-time

European markets are expected to open in mixed territory Monday.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 12 points lower at 8,240, Germany's DAX down 7 points at 19,351, France's CAC down 12 points at 7,568 and Italy's FTSE MIB up 6 points at 34,144, according to data from IG.

There are no major earnings or data releases Monday.

— Holly Ellyatt