European Stocks Settle Notably Lower On Growth Worries

(RTTNews) - European stocks tumbled on Thursday with investors pressing sales across the board amid worries about inflation and fears over surging interest rates.

Worries about the impact of the Ukraine war and the slowdown in China's economic growth weighed as well.

U.S. consumer price inflation data released on Wednesday suggested that Fed officials are likely to stick with their approach of raising rates by a half point at each of their next two-three meetings to tame high-flying inflation.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended 0.75% down. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 drifted down 1.56%, France's CAC 40 fell 1.01% and Germany's DAX dropped 0.64%, while Switzerland's SMI lost 0.41%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Turkey ended with sharp to moderate losses.

Denmark, Finland and Sweden posted modest losses.

In the UK market, Fresnillo plunged nearly 9%. Endeavour Mining plummeted 7%. BP, Anglo American Plc, Antofagasta and Glencore lost 4.4 to 5%.

Scottish Mortgage, Hargreaves Lansdown, Shell, HSBC Holdings, Aviva, IHG, IAG, Rio Tinto and Prudential also ended sharply lower.

JD Sports Fashion climbed 6.6% and Coca-Cola HBC surged up 5.6%. Next gained nearly 3.5%, while Ferguson, Kingfisher, Aveva Group, RightMove, Associated British Foods, Compass Group, Howden Joinery Group and Ocado also ended with strong gains.

In the French market, Veolia lost about 6%. ArcelorMittal, Thales, Accor, Airbus Group, Renault, Engie, Kering and Safran shed 2 to 3%.

STMicroElectronics rallied nearly 4% after it outlined a path to achieve more than $20 billion in annual sales by 2027 at the latest.

Societe Generale, WorldLine, Schneider Electric, Capgemini and Carrefour posted modest gains.

In Germany, BMW, trading ex-dividend, shed nearly 8%. Merck ended more than 5.5% down, while RWE, HeidelbergCement, Zalando, Sartorius, Allianz, Vonovia and Fresenius Medical Care lost 3 to 4.2%.

Bayer gained about 4%, rebounding from recent sharp losses. Infineon Technologies, HelloFresh, Siemens Healthineers and Deutsche Telekom gained 2 to 3.4%. Continental also ended with a strong gain.

Data released by the Office for National Statistics showed the UK economy expanded at a slower pace in the first quarter on weaker spending amid the rising cost of living.

Gross domestic product advanced 0.8% sequentially, slower than the 1.3% increase in the fourth quarter and the economists' forecast of +1%.

Switzerland's producer and import prices rose in April, increasing 6.7% year-on-year, data from the Federal Statistical Office showed.

The producer price index rose 4.5% annually in April and import prices grew 11.3%. On a monthly basis, producer and import prices rose 1.3% in April, the data said.