Tuesday saw a decline in European stocks as investors opted for a conservative approach in anticipation of critical economic data. This data included U.S. consumer and producer price inflation reports, the European Central Bank's monetary policy announcement, and details from the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes. Such data is potentially suggestive of interest rate trends.
Investors' sentiments were further influenced by global tensions and certain Federal Reserve officials' comments suggesting it was too soon to reduce interest rates. The Pan-European Stoxx 600 ended the day lower by 0.61%. Additionally, the UK's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX, and France's CAC 40 also experienced a slight dip.
Other European markets, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, and Sweden, also exhibited weak performance. Conversely, Finland, Greece, Norway, Portugal, and Russia all demonstrated an improved market performance.
The UK market saw losses ranging from 3 to 4.5% for companies such as BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Standard Chartered, and Melrose Industries. Other companies, including RightMove, B&M European Value Retail, Barclays, Beazley, ICP, Whitbread, Lloyds Banking, Imperial Brands, and Barratt Developments, also ended the day notably lower. However, BP recorded a 1% gain after predicting strong Q1 business performance reports.
In Germany, Rheinmetall’s stocks took a 9% hit, and MTU Aero Engines, Daimler Truck Holding, Munich RE, HeidelbergCement, Hannover Rueck, SAP, and Siemens Energy all faced losses ranging between 2 and 4%. There were also declines for Deutsche Bank, Covestro, Siemens Healthineers, Allianz, Volkswagen, Fresenius, BMW, and Commerzbank. Nevertheless, Infineon rallied by 4%, with Fresenius Medical Care, Sartorius, Merck, RWE, and Qiagen ending on a slight gain.
The French market saw considerable losses for Thales, Airbus Group, Hermes International, Essilor, Safran, LVMH, Legrand, AXA, Bouygues, and Saint Gobain. In contrast, Alstom shares surged by more than 7%, while Teleperformance, Eurofins Scientific, STMicroElectronics, Engie, Pernod Ricard, and L'Oreal experienced modest gains of between 0.8 and 1.5%.
Economically, the day was relatively uneventful except for the reporting of France's reduced trade deficit in February as exports incrementally surpassed imports. UK retail sales also saw a surge in March, boosted by an early Easter.
