European Stocks Tumble For 2nd Straight Day On Growth Worries

European stocks tumbled on Thursday, extending losses from the previous session, as rising concerns over soaring inflation and slowing growth rendered the mood bearish and triggered broad-based selling.

Disappointing earnings updates from top U.S. retail giants Target and Walmart raised concerns over downside risks to growth, adding to the negative sentiment.

The pan European Stoxx 600 shed 1.37%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 drifted down 1.82%, Germany’s DAX slid 0.9% and France’s CAC 40 closed 1.26% down, while Switzerland’s SMI dropped 2.33%.

Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and Sweden closed notably lower.

Russia ended modestly lower and Turkey edged down marginally, while Austria, Czech Republic and Portugal closed higher.

In the UK market, Royal Mail plunged 12.4% after reporting an 8.8% drop in pretax profits. The company has said that it would try to cover higher costs, including wages, energy and fuel expenses, through “price increases and growth initiatives.”

3I Group plummeted more than 11%. DCC drifted down 6.3%, while Bunzl Diageo, ICP, Hargreaves Lansdown, Pershing Square Holdings, Unilever, ABRDN, M&G, Harbour Energy, Schrodders and Tesco lost 4 to 5.2%.

Kingfisher, National Grid, Reckitt Benckiser, Next, Avast, Smurfit Kappa Group, Scottish Mortgage, BP, RightMove and Rolls-Royce Holdings were among the other major losers.

Dechra Pharmaceuticals rallied about 4.2%. Fresnillo, Endeavour Mining, Aveva Group, Ocado Group, Anglo American Plc, Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Antofagasta gained 1 to 3.6%.

In the French market, Unibail Rodamco tanked more than 11% amid fears over a likely drop in demand. Pernod Ricard, Carrefour, L’Oreal, Veolia, Danone, Saint Gobain, CapGemini, Teleperformance, Safran, Sodexo and Kering lost 2 to 4%.

WorldLine, Air France-KLM, Societe Generale, Dassault Systemes and Valeo gained 1 to 2.5%. Faurecia, Michelin, Engie and Renault posted modest gains.

In the German market, Deutsche Boerse declined nearly 4%. Handelsblatt reported that public prosecutors in Germany have intensified their investigations into the company’s possible involvement in alleged illegal cum-ex transactions.

Porsche Automobil, Fresenius, Deutsche Post and Allianz lost 3 to 4%. Siemens Healthineers, BASF, Henkel, Adidas, Daimler, Fresenius Medical Care and Puma ended lower by 1.6 to 2.5%.

Merck climbed nearly 2.5%. Deutsche Wohnen, Vonovia, HelloFresh and Continental ended moderately higher.

On the economic front, Eurozone current account balance swung to a deficit in March from a surplus in the previous month, the European Central Bank said.

The current account balance showed a deficit of EUR 2.0 billion in March versus a surplus of EUR 16.0 billion in February. In the corresponding month last year, there was a surplus of EUR 27.0 billion.

In the twelve months to March ,the current account surplus totaled EUR 219 billion, which constituted 1.8 percent of euro area GDP, down from EUR 294 billion a year earlier.

Eurozone construction output showed no variations in March, after rising in the previous two months, data from Eurostat showed.

Construction output remained flat in March, following a 1.1% increase in February, which was revised down from 1.9%. Civil engineering output grew 1.5% annually in March, which was slightly offset by a 0.1% drop registered in the building sector.

On a yearly basis, growth in construction output slowed notably to 3.3% in March from 8.9% in February. The rate for February was revised down from 9.4%.