Most European bourses close lower, eyeing ECB tightening

Most European stocks closed lower on Thursday (15), following the bad mood in New York and eyeing the outlook for the eurozone economy, amid the deterioration of the outlook for growth due to strong inflation, which forces the European Central Bank (ECB) to tighten its monetary policy at an accelerated pace.

Around 12:50 pm (GMT), the pan-European Stoxx 600 index operated down 0.66%, at 414.78 points.

One of the local indices that diverged from the general movement, the London FTSE 100 closed up 0.07%, at 7,282.07 points.

In earlier comments, ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos said the eurozone will face a “challenging and high uncertainty” scenario in the coming months. He also highlighted that inflation is unacceptably high and projected a significant slowdown in economic growth.

The head of the Irish BC and also ECB leader, Gabriel Maklhouf, classified the monetary tightening in the euro zone as “absolutely necessary”, while the president of the BC of Portugal, Mario Centeno, defended more contained increases in interest rates.

The worsening scenario in Europe is mainly due to problems in energy supply, after Russia drastically reduced its deliveries of natural gas to the continent.

Deputy CEO of Russian state-owned Gazprom, Oleg Aksyutin, said on Thursday that Europe did not have an alternative to the country’s natural gas.

“The gas crisis in Europe will have profound and lasting global effects”, assesses Barclays.

The British bank projects weaker growth and higher inflation in the euro zone for an extended period.

Among other European markets, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange closed down 0.55%, at 12,956.66 points, Paris fell by 1.04%, at 6,157.84 points, and Milan fell by 0.21%, at 22,365.82 points. .

In the Iberian markets, Madrid closed with gains of 0.37%, at 8,085.50 points, and Lisbon dropped 1.01%, to 5,914.16 points.