(Bloomberg) -- European stocks fell for the fourth time in five days as a slew of worse-than-forecast results and tepid forecasts damped the outlook for corporate health.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.3 percent at the close. Drugmakers led declines as Novo Nordisk A/S slid 7.3 percent after trimming its 2017 sales projection. Daimler AG dropped 2.7 percent after saying profit will rise only “slightly” this year, while Deutsche Bank AG tumbled 5.2 percent after its quarterly trading revenue missed analysts' estimates.
- Respite proved brief for the Stoxx 600 as it resumed declines on Thursday, after climbing 0.9 percent in the previous session on strong earnings from industrial companies and positive data from China and the U.S.
- Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc rose 4.1 percent after saying it's in advanced talks to buy baby-formula maker Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. for about $16.7 billion.
- Fingerprint Cards AB plunged 7.3 percent after its earnings missed estimates.
- There are mounting signs of complacency in equity markets following the recent rally, particularly in sectors seen as cyclical, Credit Suisse Group AG's equity strategists wrote in note.
--With assistance from Elena Popina To contact the reporter on this story: Blaise Robinson in Paris at brobinson58@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Celeste Perri at cperri@bloomberg.net, Namitha Jagadeesh
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