European stocks fell on Thursday to snap a three-day winning run as resurgent worries about rising U.S. bond yields dented investors’ appetite for riskier assets.
Traders await a speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell later today for any hints about the recent jump in bond yields.
Powell is expected to reaffirm his commitment to an ultra-easy monetary policy while stressing that the Fed won’t rates to head off inflation.
The pan European Stoxx 600 dropped 0.7 percent to 410.59 after ending flat with a positive bias on Wednesday.
The German DAX slid half a percent and France’s CAC 40 index eased 0.3 percent while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down as much as 1.2 percent.
Miners Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore lost 3-4 percent. Rio Tinto fell 2.8 percent and BHP slumped 5.5 percent after their Australia-listed stocks went ex-dividend.
Travel-related stocks declined, with TUI falling 1.6 percent and Intercontinental Hotels Group losing 2.6 percent.
Lufthansa fell 1 percent after the airline posted record losses for 2020.
Insurer Aviva jumped 3 percent after exiting its Italian businesses in a pair of deals totaling 873 million euros.
Software company Sage Group rose 3 percent on share buyback news.
Thales shares were down about 0.7 percent. The aerospace company reported that its net income group share for fiscal year 2020 dropped 56.9 percent to 483 million euros from 1.12 billion euros last year.
Energy generation and energy trading company Uniper SE rose 1.2 percent. The company closed the financial year 2020 with EBIT at upper range of guidance.
Automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler rose half a percent after saying it expects revenue to grow by more than 7 percent at constant currency in 2021.
In economic releases, German construction activity contracted sharply in February as severe bad weather caused widespread disruption to work on sites, survey results from IHS Markit showed earlier today. The construction Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 41.0 from 46.6 in January.
Business News
European Shares Slide As Risk Appetite Wanes
2021-03-04 09:53:45
