European Shares Slide On Risk Aversion
(RTTNews) - European stocks declined on Thursday as weak U.S. economic data and hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials dented demand for riskier assets.
On a light day on the economic front, the minutes of the European Central Bank's monetary policy meeting held on December 14 and 15 will be released later in the day. Also, ECB President Lagarde is scheduled to speak at Davos.
The pan European STOXX 600 was down 0.8 percent at 453.80 after gaining 0.2 percent on Wednesday to extend its winning streak for a sixth straight session.
The German DAX, France's CAC 40 index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 were down between 0.6 percent and 0.8 percent.
Oil & gas firm BP Plc fell 2.2 percent in London and Shell lost 1.8 percent as crude prices extended losses on the back of weak U.S. economic data and a surprise build in U.S. crude stocks.
Harbour Energy tumbled 3 percent as it launched a review of its U.K. operations and cut its 2023 spending plan.
Events-and academic publishing group Informa advanced 1.7 percent after saying that it expects to report higher revenue and adjusted operating profit for 2022.
Melrose Industries dropped 1 percent. The company said the aerospace business of the former GKN traded in line with expectations in 2022.
German electrical company Encavis plunged 9 percent as Barclays downgraded its rating on the stock to "underweight" from "equal weight".