Major European Markets Close Weak On Rate Hike Fears

European stocks closed lower on Friday amid possibility of the Federal Reserve tightening its monetary policy after data showed a stronger than expected growth in U.S. non-farm payroll employment in the month of May.

With eurozone inflation continuing to accelerate at a rapid pace, the European Central Bank, which is slated to announce its policy next week, is widely expected to aggressively tighten its stance with regard to interest rates.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended lower by 0.26%. Germany’s DAX declined 0.17%, France’s CAC 40 drifted down 0.23% and Switzerland’s SMI ended 0.18% down. The U.K. market remained closed for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Among other markets in Europe, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain and Sweden ended weak.

Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece and Portugal moved up, while Norway and Turkey closed flat.

In the French market, Faurecia slipped nearly 7% on equity dilution worries. The company said it is carrying out a 705 million-euro ($758 million) capital increase to fund its acquisition of German rival Hella.

Valeo, STMicroElectronics, Safran, Dassault Systemes, Renault, Legrand, L’Oreal, Credit Agricole and Schneider Electric lost 1 to 3%.

Veolia climbed nearly 1.5%, while Unibail Rodamco, Vinci, Carrefour, Bouygues and Sanofi posted modest gains.

In the German market, HelloFresh, Infineon Technologies, Volkswagen, BMW, BASF, Siemens, Merck and Daimler lost 1 to 2%.

Sartorius surged up 2.6%. E.ON gained about 2.1%, while Qiagen, Zalando and Munich RE gained 1 to 1.5%.

In European economic news, Germany’s exports rebounded at a stronger than expected pace in April, advancing 4.4% on a monthly basis, in contrast to the 3% decline posted in March, data from Destatis showed. Imports were up 3.1% on month, slightly slower than March’s 3.2% increase.

As a result, the trade surplus rose to a seasonally adjusted EUR 3.5 billion from EUR 1.9 billion a month ago. The expected level was EUR 1.6 billion.

France industrial production fell 0.1% in April from March, when output was down 0.4%, data published by the statistical office Insee showed on Friday. Output was forecast to grow 0.3%.

Data from Eurostat showed Eurozone retail sales declined 1.3% month-on-month in April, in contrast to the revised 0.3% rise in March. Sales were forecast to grow 0.3%. On a yearly basis, retail sales growth improved to 3.9% in April from 1.6% in March, but that was slower than the expected increase of 5.4%.

Eurozone private sector expanded strongly in May as the relaxation of the Covid-19 restrictions boosted services growth, while the expansion in manufacturing output was damped by the war in Ukraine and supply-side disruptions.

The final composite output index dropped to a four-month low of 54.8 in May from 55.8 in the previous month, survey results from S&P Global showed on Friday. The flash score was 54.9.

In the U.S., the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly employment report showed job growth in the country exceeded economist estimates in the month of May, jumping by 390,000 jobs, after surging by an upwardly revised 436,000 jobs in April.

Economists had expected employment to increase by about 325,000 jobs compared to the addition of 428,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.6%. The unemployment rate was expected to edge down to 3.5%.