European Shares Inch Lower Ahead Of Powell's Speech
(RTTNews) - European stocks slipped into the red on Tuesday after two Fed officials said the Federal Reserve would likely raise interest rates to above 5 percent and hold them there for some time in order to keep inflation under control.
The dollar edged higher in European trade but hovered near a seven-month low as investors focus on the outlook for China's economy and U.S. interest rate hikes.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech later in the day also remained on investors' radar.
The pan-European STOXX 600 fell 0.7 percent to 445.14 after gaining 0.9 percent in the previous session to reach its highest level in eight months.
The German DAX and France's CAC 40 index both dropped around 0.6 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.2 percent.
Holcim Group shares fell about 1 percent. The Swiss building materials maker has acquired Italian grounded calcium carbonate company Nicem srl.
Lower copper prices weighed on miners, with Anglo American falling nearly 2 percent.
Building materials supplier SIG fell about 1 percent despite saying it expects to report higher revenue and underlying operating profit in 2022.
In economic releases, retail sales in Britain grew nearly 7 percent year-on-year in December, but this was largely due to goods costing more, the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium showed.
Separate data showed French industrial production jumped 2.0 percent month-on-month in November.
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