Key European indicators show negative dynamics on Monday against the backdrop of discussion by market participants of the risks of introducing new anti-Russian sanctions, as well as the prospects for tightening the European Central Bank's monetary policy.
The composite index of the leading companies in the Euroregion STOXX Europe 600 fell by 0.1% to 457.94 points at one point.
The German DAX sank 0.7%, the French CAC 40 shed 0.5%, the UK FTSE 100 shed 0.04%, the Italian FTSE MIB shed 0.6% and the Spanish IBEX 35 shed 0.58%.
The value of securities of the largest budget airline in Europe – Irish Ryanair Holdings Plc – falls by 1.5% on Monday. The day before, Ryanair management announced that it expects a net loss of about 350-400 million euros by the end of the 2022 financial year against the previously forecast 250-450 million euros.
Shares of Swedish passenger car manufacturer Volvo Car AB are down 0.1%. In the past month, the company reduced sales by 22% and predicted a negative impact of the shortage of components on production.
The capitalization of the German operator of the food delivery service Delivery Hero SE soared today by 9.6% on the background of the company providing credit financing worth 1.4 billion euros.
On Wednesday, representatives of the European Union are planning to discuss a new package of sanctions against Russia. On the eve of the Ukrainian authorities brought charges of killing civilians in the city of Bucha by Russian troops.
Analysts suggest that future sanctions of European countries may affect both private restrictions and embargoes on the export of goods from Russia. It is planned that EU representatives will discuss a ban on the import of coal, oil and gas from Russia. By the way, the previously imposed anti-Russian sanctions have already led to the fact that the purchasing power in the euroregion is significantly falling due to the increase in the cost of energy.
The focus of investors' attention on Monday is also on statistical data on the eurozone countries, which turned out to be worse than predicted by the market. So, in April, the indicator of investor confidence collapsed to -18 points (the lowest level since July 2020) against -7 points in March. Earlier, market experts expected the index to fall only to -9.2 points.
In February, the volume of exports from Germany increased by 6.4% compared to January and amounted to 124.7 billion euros. At the same time, the level of imports increased by 4.5% to 113.1 billion euros. This indicator decreased by 4% in the first month of 2022. In annual terms in February, exports in the state soared by 14.3%, and imports increased by 24.6%.
According to Friday's report on the level of consumer prices in 19 EU states, annual inflation there accelerated to 7.5% (the highest level in the entire history of observations) from 5.9% a month earlier. At the same time, experts predicted an acceleration of inflation to only 6.6%.
Due to weak statistics on the euroregion, stock market participants are trying to predict further decisions of the ECB on monetary policy. Many investors assume that in the future the ECB will significantly tighten monetary policy.
