The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed at its lowest level in nearly a month on Tuesday, at the start of a shorter week filled with major central bank events, with energy stocks slumping and Pearson at the bottom. among media companies.
The STOXX 600 closed down 1.24% to 461.08 points, its worst level since early April.
Oil and gas stocks fell 4.5%, posting their lowest close in more than a month, tracking oil prices slumping on concerns over a U.S. bond default, weak economic data from China and expectations that the U.S. and Europe will raise interest rates again this week.
BP PPlc fell 8.6% after the company scrapped a share buyback plan, but posted a profit of $5 billion in the first quarter of 2023.
Investors were also refraining from taking risks ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy decision on Wednesday, which is likely to take the central bank’s benchmark interest rate to its highest level in nearly 16 years.
Markets are also eagerly awaiting a European Central Bank (ECB) rate decision on Thursday, which is widely seen as a 0.25 percentage point rise. Derivatives markets also see rates peaking at around 3.7% in November.
Boosting the case for a smaller interest rate hike, data showed that eurozone banks are reducing credit offers and a key indicator of inflation is finally falling.
Mainland media shares lost 4.2%, their worst session since late January 2022, after online education firm Pearson PPlc lost 15.0% after U.S. competitor Chegg projected an unexpected decline in revenue as students begin using ChatGPT.
In LONDON, the Financial Times index fell 1.24% to 7,773.03 points.
In FRANKFURT, the DAX index fell 1.23% to 15,726.94 points.
In PARIS, the CAC-40 index lost 1.45% to 7,383.20 points.
In MILAN, the Ftse/Mib index lost 1.65% to 26,630.09 points.
In MADRID, the Ibex-35 index fell by 1.72% to 9,082.00 points.
In LISBON, the PSI20 index lost 1.41% to 6,124.70 points.
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