'Financial Times': Mixed Day for European Markets
DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN ANCHOR: A mixed day this morning for the European markets with London headed to the downside.</s>DEBORAH MARCHINI, CNN ANCHOR: Philip Coggan, markets editor of the "Financial Times," joins us live from the "FT"'s London newsroom. And Philip, I gather that Philips' performance was good, but the stock's performance was not?</s>PHILIP COGGAN, MARKETS EDITOR, "FINANCIAL TIMES": Yes, that's right, Deborah. They came out with figures of 771 million euros; now that was to the top of the range that the analysts had been looking for, but the whisper number, as it were, the best number in the range was 800 million euros. So not quite as good as the best forecast. The shares have come down. I Think it is largely to do with Intel yesterday. Philips does have a semiconductor division. Now that actually produced a very good performance over the year. Its figures are up to 373 million euros from 154 million before. So more than doubling. But, nevertheless, Philips has been knocked along with a lot of the chip-related stocks in Europe. We have seen falls on Fineon (ph), we've seen falls in STMicroelectronics, and ASM Lithography. So a difficult day for those kind of stocks in the wake of Intel's fall yesterday.</s>HAFFENREFFER: And we understand the pharmaceutical company Roche is in the news?</s>COGGAN: Yes, that's right. It's announced that it's going to meet its profit target for the year of 10 percent. It has three third-quarter figures out today, and they're showing sales up 10 percent. But it is saying, first of all, it's going to spin off its biotech disease fighting companies -- businesses into a new company called Bazilia Pharmaceutica (ph) -- difficult thing to say -- and it's also saying that drugs sales are going to pick up next year. This year it has been a bit sluggish because it's anti-obesity drug that it launched last year Xenical, it's slowed its sales this year. But next year it's got some more drugs coming through that it hopes will do very well. So its shares among the best performers in Europe today.</s>MARCHINI: Philip, what's happening with the euro? I saw it go below 85 cents this morning with no response from the central banks.</s>COGGAN: Yes. Well, Mr. Duisenberg yesterday rather gave the game away by saying it was unlikely that they were going to intervene in the short-term. Now it might have been playing a very sophisticated game because only when the markets don't expect intervention, does intervention work. So he might have been denying they were going to intervene and then planning to intervene in after that denial. I mean, it's been hovering around -- sorry.</s>MARCHINI: That's OK. I was going to say, there were rumors he was going to resign too.</s>COGGAN: There was a rumor on the wires. That's been dismissed as total nonsense by the ECB spokesman. So I think we can count on that -- That one out. But his performance has been widely criticized. He seems to have made a bit of a gaff yesterday with that remark. And for all the lifetime of the euro, the European Central Bank, officials have not been very good at supporting the currency; they tended to be contradictory, they have not indicated -- they have not created the kind of record that the Bundesbank held for years in defending the Deutschemark. And so, it's not surprisingly these rumors are going to start, and the euro is still stuck around 85 cents. Nothing seems to be pushing it hire at the moment, and no sign of intervention.</s>MARCHINI: Wish I were coming to Europe. Philip Coggan, of the "FT," thanks so much.