Most European stock markets closed lower on Thursday, despite gaining for most of the session, with investors heeding warnings from the Bank of England and the Bank of England. the heavy sell-off that takes place today on Wall Street.
On the board, the pan-European Stoxx 600 closed with losses of 0.74%, at 438.26 points, with shares of the travel and leisure sector losing 3.6% and those of the insurance sector suffering losses of 2.8%. The other pan-European index, Eurostoxx 50“lost” 0.75%, to 3,697.15 points.
The German DAX recorded a drop of 0.50%, to 13,901.25 points, with the French CAC40 to decline by 0.43%, to 6,368.40 points, while the British FTSE 100 gained 0.17%, to 7,506.27 points.
In the periphery, the Italian FTSE MIB recorded losses of 0.57%, to 23,765 points, while the Spanish IBEX 35 fell 0.77% to 8,434.70 points.
Wall Street, after the relief rally that followed the announcement of interest rate increases by 50 basis points by the Fed, is moving rapidly down today. Yesterday’s rally was based on the statement of the President of the US Central Bank J. Powell said no more aggressive interest rate hikes of 75 basis points are currently being considered, although monetary tightening is expected to continue.
The emphasis in Europe today was on the Bank of England, which raised its key interest rate to its highest level in 13 years in a bid to stem inflation.
The BoE’s monetary policy committee raised its key interest rate by 25 basis points to 1%, a majority of 6 to 3. The minority favored an increase of 50 basis points, to 1.25%.
In its updated forecast, the BoE highlights the strong possibility of a recession in the fifth largest economy in the world. The Bank now expects GDP to shrink in the last three months of the year, expecting a large increase in household energy bills from October.
The war in Ukraine is also always on the radar of investors. Russian forces are again attacking the Azofstal complex, the last stronghold of the Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol. At the same time, the EU is already proposing an embargo on Russian oil as part of the sixth round of sanctions against Moscow.
The corporate results continue to weigh heavily on the movement of the price of individual shares. Shell, BMW, Leonardo, UniCredit, Intesa Sanpaolo, Banco BPM, Societe Generale, Credit Agricole, AXA, Stellantis, Airbu and Air France KLM announced results earlier in the day.
Airbus shares jumped more than 6% after the announcement of strong first quarter results, while S4 Capital saw its title strengthen more than 10%, after the British advertising company announced that the – delayed – results for the year 2021 will to be released on Friday.
At the bottom of the pan-European index, Austrian energy company Verbund lost 12%.
Source: Capital
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