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European markets end lower
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October 3, 2001: 12:15 p.m. ET
European bourses end lower, led by technology and media stocks
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LONDON (CNN) - Europe's major bourses closed mainly lower on Wednesday, finding little support in a weak Wall Street but clawing back from earlier sharp falls.
London's FTSE 100 closed nearly 1 percent lower at 4,878.5, while the CAC 40 blue chip index in Paris ended down by 0.5 percent at 4,024.25. Frankfurt's Xetra Dax lost 0.4 percent to reach 4,286.63.
Tech bellwether Nortel Networks (NT: Research, Estimates) of Canada had said on Tuesday it would post a wider-than-expected third-quarter loss, and said it was cutting at least 15,000 more positions from its workforce.
Telecom stocks took Nortel's news badly. Finland's Nokia, the world's biggest supplier of mobile phones, fell 2.5 percent.
Siemens (FSIE), the German communications and engineering giant, fell 3.4 percent in Frankfurt while France's Alcatel (PCGE), Europe's No.4 telecoms equipment maker, dived 7.6 percent.
Ford (F: Research, Estimates) also warned on Tuesday that its third-quarter loss would be larger than expected due to increased incentive costs in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attack and a drop in earnings from its Hertz rental car unit.
But auto stocks, which had suffered in early trade, bounced back, with Germany's DaimlerChrysler (FDCX) rising 2.3 percent and BMW (FBMW) recovering to Tuesday's closing figure. Both rely on the U.S. markets for a big proportion of their sales.
DaimlerChrysler said U.S. sales fell 28 percent in September and it would shut four plants for one week, and one plant for three weeks. Volkswagen (FVOW) rose 0.5 percent.
The airline industry had come under pressure after Swissair grounded flights for the second day as it continued to talk with banks to raise cash to pay creditors.
Swissair shares plunged 84 percent but Germany's Lufthansa (LFHA) came back from earlier losses to rise 1.5 percent. British Airways (BAY) also ended more than 5 percent higher in London.
Media and advertising companies extended the previous session's losses after Havas, the world's fifth largest communications company, made a net loss of  7 million ($6.4 million) in the first six months of its fiscal year. Havas, which plunged 12.5 percent on Tuesday, lost 0.9 percent.
Other media companies followed suit. WPP Group (WPP) lost 2.1 percent and French Broadcaster TF1 (PTFI) dropped more than 3 percent in Paris.
In Amsterdam the AEX index fell just over 1 percent and the SMI in Zurich was 0.8 percent lower. Milan's MIB30 index was up 1.4 percent.
The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, was virtually unchanged, with the information technology and media stocks in negative territory.
U.S. stocks rallied at midday Wednesday as word of strength in the services sector and a White House proposal to stimulate the economy overcame more corporate warnings.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose above 9,000 for the first time since the day the markets reopened after the terrorist attack, while the Nasdaq composite index was 3 percent higher.
The Dow industrials rose 119.90 points to reach 9,070.49, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 58.67 to 1,551 after being down as much as 19 points earlier in the session.
In the U.S. on Tuesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve had cut interest rates to 2.5 percent, the lowest level since 1962. It was the ninth cut in 2001 and the second since the terrorist attacks, amid concerns the attacks pushed an already weak U.S. economy into a recession. 
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