LONDON -- Stocks are trading slightly lower Wednesday, thanks to a consolidation, rather than any fundamental catalyst. Factory output reports from the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York may get some attention following their release as traders look to anything that may offer some direction. Early premarket trade, meanwhile, shows U.S. stocks following a similar lackluster trend to their European counterparts, with the S&P 500
Amid this weakness, however, there are a number of European firms that are falling even more sharply. Here are three American depositary receipts the S&P should outperform today.
Rio Tinto
The mining giant is down 4.4% today, suffering as general concerns surrounding Chinese growth and demand for commodities hits this mining-outlook proxy in London. This comes despite news that Emirates Nuclear Energy, which is building four nuclear power plants in the UAE, has awarded Rio and five other companies contracts for fuel supplies worth $3 billion.
CRH
The concrete-product maker is seeing a second day of deep losses Wednesday, down 2.5% after it said yesterday that second-half like-for-like European sales will fall by more than the 5% drop seen in H1, due mainly to a weak U.S. homes market. The company said like-for-like H2 sales in the Americas will be "well below" the 8% posted in the first half, blaming the ongoing European debt crisis and an erosion of confidence.
ArcelorMittal
The steelmaker is down 2.3% today, also suffering amid broader concerns over Chinese growth and construction output. This was added to news yesterday that the economy of Kazakhstan -- a country where Arcelor has a number of large operations -- expanded at the slowest pace since 2009, adding to fears of slowing growth in the Euro-Asian countries that have been a backbone of demand for steel products.
As usual, this morning's European trading saw some stocks lose ground -- and perhaps provide some European buying opportunities. Indeed, legendary investor Warren Buffett has recently spent more than $1 billion buying a European large-cap stock that's currently trading well below its 2012 high. If you want to know what Buffett has bought within Europe, this special Motley Fool report -- "The One European Share Warren Buffett Loves" -- reveals everything, including the price he paid. You can download the report today for free, but hurry -- the report is available for a limited time only.
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