European Shares Decline On Fed Policy Uncertainty; BoE Decision Eyed

(RTTNews) - European stocks were moving lower on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut rates as expected and penciled in two more for 2025, fewer than four seen in September.

Investors also braced for the Bank of England's last meeting of the year later in the day.

The central bank is widely expected to hold rates at 4.75 percent after data showed a high rate of wage growth and inflation above the bank's 2 percent target.

In economic releases, the forward-looking German consumer sentiment index posted -21.3 in January, up from -23.1 in December. The score was expected to rise to -22.6.

The French manufacturing sentiment index stood at 97 in December, the same as in November.

The pan European STOXX 600 fell 1.1 percent to 508.81 after rising 0.2 percent in the previous session.

The German DAX dipped 0.9 percent, France's CAC 40 shed 1.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 1 percent.

Skanska AB fell 1.2 percent after the Swedish construction firm divested the multi-family rental property C.F. Møllers Have in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Swiss technology firm SoftwareOne Holding soared 7 percent after it announced a deal to buy Crayon Group Holding.

Car maker Stellantis NV declined 1.6 percent after reporting a sales drop in November.

Renault rose 1.2 percent in Paris after reports emerged that Foxconn is in talks with Nissan Motor Co.'s biggest shareholder Renault about its willingness to sell its shares in the Japanese automaker.

Serco Group shares jumped nearly 7 percent in London. The outsourcing giant Serco forecast full-year revenue of £4.8bn in line with its prior guidance.

German perfume and cosmetics maker Douglas Holding AG tumbled almost 5 percent despite reporting a turnaround to net profit for the fourth quarter.