{"id":73414,"date":"2026-10-22T02:51:57","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T06:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/european-markets-lifted-by-french-industrial-rebound-barclays-and-hermes-report-mixed-q3-results\/73414\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T02:51:57","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T06:51:57","slug":"european-markets-lifted-by-french-industrial-rebound-barclays-and-hermes-report-mixed-q3-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/european-markets-lifted-by-french-industrial-rebound-barclays-and-hermes-report-mixed-q3-results\/73414\/","title":{"rendered":"European Markets Lifted by French Industrial Rebound; Barclays and Hermes Report Mixed Q3 Results"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>French Manufacturing Confidence<\/strong> surged to <strong>105<\/strong> in October, significantly outperforming the estimate of <strong>101<\/strong> and signaling a robust industrial recovery.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Barclays (<a href=\"\/stock\/BARC\">BARC<\/a>)<\/strong> reported a <strong>12% jump<\/strong> in Q3 pretax profit to <strong>\u00a32.32 billion<\/strong>, supported by a <strong>47% rise<\/strong> in equities income, and announced a new <strong>\u00a3500 million share buyback<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hermes (<a href=\"\/stock\/RMS\">RMS<\/a>)<\/strong> saw revenue grow <strong>4.3%<\/strong> to <strong>\u20ac4.10 billion<\/strong>, missing estimates as ready-to-wear sales turned negative for the first time in years due to a &quot;challenging&quot; Chinese market.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Global Cybersecurity Alert:<\/strong> China and the U.S. NSA urged immediate <strong>PHP upgrades<\/strong> following the discovery of two critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities rated <strong>9.2\/10<\/strong> in severity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Energy Risks Escalate:<\/strong> Seven oil tankers were reportedly damaged in the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong> overnight, as Iraq moves to charter its own tankers to bypass the increasingly volatile waterway.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>French Industrial Sentiment Hits Multi-Month Highs<\/h2>\n<p>France\u2019s manufacturing sector showed unexpected resilience in October, with the <strong>INSEE Manufacturing Confidence Index<\/strong> climbing to <strong>105<\/strong>. This reading comfortably beat the consensus estimate of <strong>101<\/strong> and marked a significant improvement from the previous month&#39;s stable reading. The broader <strong>Business Confidence<\/strong> indicator also edged higher to <strong>97<\/strong>, surpassing expectations of <strong>96<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The internal components of the survey were particularly encouraging for future production. The <strong>Own-Company Production Outlook<\/strong> jumped to <strong>19<\/strong> from a previous <strong>15<\/strong>, suggesting that French firms are becoming more optimistic about their internal output capacity. While the general <strong>Production Outlook Indicator<\/strong> remained in negative territory at <strong>-8<\/strong>, it showed a slight improvement from the previous <strong>-9<\/strong>, indicating that the pace of industrial contraction may be bottoming out.<\/p>\n<h2>Barclays and Hermes Navigate Divergent Sector Trends<\/h2>\n<p>Barclays (<a href=\"\/stock\/BARC\">BARC<\/a>) kicked off the European banking earnings season with a strong performance, posting a pretax profit of <strong>\u00a32.32 billion<\/strong>. Despite a <strong>19% slide<\/strong> in fixed income, currencies, and commodities (FICC) income, the bank\u2019s <strong>equities division<\/strong> outperformed Wall Street rivals with a <strong>47% revenue surge<\/strong>. The bank reaffirmed its <strong>2028 targets<\/strong>, including a return on tangible equity (RoTE) greater than <strong>14%<\/strong>, and bolstered investor returns with a fresh <strong>\u00a3500 million buyback<\/strong> program.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, luxury giant Hermes (<a href=\"\/stock\/RMS\">RMS<\/a>) faced headwinds as its quarterly sales growth slowed to its lowest level since early 2020. While <strong>Leather Goods and Saddlery<\/strong> remained a bright spot with <strong>10.8% growth<\/strong>, the <strong>Ready-to-Wear and Accessories<\/strong> division saw a <strong>2.0% decline<\/strong>. Management cited a &quot;very difficult&quot; environment in <strong>Greater China<\/strong>, which remained stable over the first nine months but showed signs of weakening demand for fashion items.<\/p>\n<h2>Global Security and Energy Supply Chains Under Pressure<\/h2>\n<p>A major cybersecurity crisis emerged as the <strong>PHP Foundation<\/strong> and global security agencies issued emergency warnings regarding two critical vulnerabilities (CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619). The flaws, dubbed <strong>PHP2Shell<\/strong>, allow unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary code. China\u2019s <strong>Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT)<\/strong> and the <strong>U.S. NSA<\/strong> have advised organizations to update to <strong>PHP 8.5.12<\/strong> or later immediately or take vulnerable servers offline.<\/p>\n<p>Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East reached a new flashpoint with reports from Iranian state television that <strong>seven oil tankers<\/strong> were damaged by mines or attacks in the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong>. This escalation follows <strong>Iraq&#39;s<\/strong> strategic shift to charter its own <strong>Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs)<\/strong> to ship fuel oil directly to international markets, reducing its reliance on buyers who are increasingly hesitant to send vessels into the Persian Gulf &quot;gauntlet.&quot;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways French Manufacturing Confidence surged to 105 in October, significantly outperforming the estimate of 101 and signaling a robust 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