European stocks end lower after US inflation

European shares fell sharply on Friday, hitting three-week lows after a higher-than-expected U.S. inflation reading, raising the prospect of a recession as central banks try to contain the economy. high prices.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed down 2.69% at 422.71 points.

Losses were led by a 4.8% drop in banks. The benchmark index suffered the fourth consecutive session of decline, registering weekly losses of more than 3%.

US consumer inflation accelerated to 8.6% in the 12 months through May, beating the expected rate of 8.3% and suggesting that the Federal Reserve may continue to adopt 50 percentage point interest rate hikes through September to to combat rising prices.

The view the Fed will issue on inflation at its meeting next week will be closely watched.

“Markets are nervous because persistent inflation essentially forces central banks to tighten their grip,” said Dhaval Joshi, chief strategist at BCA Research. “The most important question is whether central banks are going to push the economy into recession to beat inflation.”

• In London, the Financial Times index dropped 2.12%, to 7,317.52 points;
• In Frankfurt, the DAX index fell 3.08% to 13,761.83 points;
• In Paris, the CAC-40 index lost 2.69%, to 6,187.23 points;
• In Milan, the Ftse/Mib index had a devaluation of 5.17%, to 22,547.48 points;
• In Madrid, the Ibex-35 index registered a drop of 3.68%, to 8,390.60 points;
• In Lisbon, the PSI20 index fell by 3.39%, to 6,087.96 points.