LONDON – European stocks traded lower on Thursday, with all major indexes in the region falling on the last trading day of the first half of the year.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index traded 1.6% lower shortly after markets opened with all sectors in negative territory.
Swedish aerospace and defense company Saab performed best in the index this morning. It rose 4.8% after receiving an order for SEK 7.3 billion ($ 713.9 million) for two of its GlobalEye Airborne early warning and control aircraft scheduled for delivery in 2027.
The German energy company Uniper performed the worst. Its shares fell by a whopping 14.3% after it withdrew its financial forecasts for 2022 regarding restrictions on Gazprom’s gas supplies.
The company said it had received only 40% of Gazprom’s agreed gas volumes since June 16 amid the war in Ukraine. He expects its adjusted earnings before interest and taxes and adjusted net earnings for the first half of 2022 to be significantly below last year’s levels.
The downturn in Europe is coming as global market sentiment remains bleak – there is no prospect of an end to the war in Ukraine any time soon and inflationary pressures are likely to continue to intensify. As central banks aggressively seek to combat rising prices by raising interest rates, fears of a global slowdown are growing.
Data released in Europe on Thursday includes French preliminary data on inflation for June, which show that the consumer price index in the country rose by 5.8% over the previous year, compared to 5.2% in May, according to the French statistical INSEE body.
European stocks closed lower on Wednesday as sentiment remained bearish, with investors nervous about a possible recession. On the night of the Asia-Pacific markets, Chinese markets rose on Thursday as government data showed factory activity rose in June, but most other indices fell.
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US stock index futures, meanwhile, remained unchanged during overnight trading on Wednesday as the S&P 500 prepares to end its worst first half of decades. For the last quarter, the Dow and S&P 500 are on track for their worst quarterly period since the first quarter of 2020, when the blockade of Covid led to a decline in shares.
The technology Nasdaq Composite has fallen by more than 20% in the last three months, its worst period since 2008.
In other news, investors will learn from the latest developments since the NATO summit in Madrid. NATO leaders have invited Sweden and Finland to join the alliance after Turkey withdrew its objections to new members and the organization reiterated its support for Ukraine, outlining plans to revise its deterrence and defense strategy.
There were no major earnings reports in Europe on Thursday.
– Pippa Stevens of CNBC contributed to this market report.
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