Poor Chevron report hits European equities

Equities were down in Europe this morning by between 0.5 and one per cent in the early session, with the City Index blaming a poor interim update from Chevron for impacting the figures.

Chevron had warned that its second-quarter earnings may be affected by a large fall in US refining margins, with the weak dollar hitting any benefits from increased oil prices.

On the UK FTSE index, oil and gas producers were ’once again the biggest losers’, taking over nine points of the index.

Additionally, shares in mining firms dropped, while those of Aviva fell by 1.5 per cent ’on continued fears that falling profits may force the company to cut its dividend’.

A number of commentators had suggested that the insurer will cuts its dividend in August by between 25 and 50 per cent.

However, Aviva has not made any comments regarding its dividend policy since March, when it said that there would be no changes.
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