Europe’s Stoxx 600 slips on inflation fears
Euro zone bond yields steadied from multi-year highs
European shares slipped on Thursday amid persisting worries over inflation. The Stoxx 600 index fell 0.12% to 650.35 points, marking its seventh consecutive weekly decline since September 2023. The slump was fueled by surging oil prices, which breached the US$90 barrier, raising concerns that inflation could pick up. Efforts by the US Treasury to inject liquidity into long-term debt helped keep Eurozone bond yields relatively stable, alleviating some of the pressure on markets.
Despite the energy sector's gains, travel and leisure stocks declined as oil prices rose. France's CAC 40 trailed regional peers, slipping 0.6% due to a downturn in luxury stocks. Kering, the parent company of Gucci, and LVMH, the owner of Louis Vuitton, both saw their stocks tumble by 3.6% and 2.8%, respectively. On the economic front, German producer prices surged to their quickest pace in over three years in July, driven by surging costs for intermediate goods and energy.
Meanwhile, Sweden's share index edged up 0.3% after the central bank left its key interest rate unchanged, signaling readiness to tighten policy if inflation starts to accelerate. Among notable individual performers, JD Sports plummeted 14.3% after cutting its profit forecast due to weaker-than-expected sales, particularly in North America.
Novonesis, on the other hand, rose 9.7% after delivering better-than-expected results, boosting its full-year guidance and announcing a share buyback.
Written by urgent.news from The Business Times - Companies & Markets's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
