European companies are struggling to get out of the hole, Bloomberg writes. According to strategists of HSBC Holdings Plc, only 54% of companies in Europe exceeded expectations in regards to earnings last quarter. This is the lowest share since 2015. And this is taking into account that European companies were not very attractive to investors recently due to political and trade risks.

However, these factors are exactly what make some optimistic investors, including Barclays Plc and Joh Berenberg Gossler & Co., excited about growth of European shares at the end of this year, as they assume that prices reached the bottom, and market will start to recover.

It shall be noted that the corporations started warning investors that this earnings season might be disappointing in August. As a result, expectations in regards to growth of companies in Stoxx 600 in 2018 fell from 8,3% in the beginning of this year to 5,9%.

Among the companies that disappointed investors last week were UniCredit SpA, BMW AG and Pandora A/S.

Meanwhile, strategists surveyed by Bloomberg hope for Christmas miracle and predict Stoxx 600 growth by 8% till the end of the year, given that there are no new political shocks, such as Italian budget and Brexit deal.