European stocks weaken; ECB, BoE loom after hawkish Fed message By

By Peter Nurse 

- European stock markets weakened Thursday,mt4 foreign exchange trading system rental as investors fretted about future growth given a hawkish message from the U.S. Federal Reserve and ahead of more central banks meetings in Europe and the U.K.

At 04:10 ET (09:10 GMT), the in Germany traded 1.1% lower, the in the U.K. dropped 0.6% and in France traded down 1.2%.

Thursday’s focus will be on policy-setting meetings by the and the , not to mention the gatherings at the and the .

These central banks are all expected to raise interest rates as they continue to combat inflation running at historically high levels.  

That said, both the BoE and the ECB are set to tone down the size of their hikes to 50 basis points, from 75 bps last time, as European economies as a whole teeter towards recession.

These meetings follow on from the increasing interest rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday, as widely expected, but signaled more increases by the end of 2023.

Additionally, Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned that borrowing costs are likely to peak at higher-than-expected levels, given that inflation is still running well above the central bank’s target range.

Also weighing on sentiment was data showing that Chinese and came in well below expectations in November, as rising COVID-19 cases and increased restrictions weighed heavily on the second largest economy in the world, and a major export market for European companies.

In corporate news, H&M (ST:) stock fell 3.5% after the world's second-biggest fashion retailer failed to match the pickup in sales by bigger rival (BME:), facing pressure from the winding down of its operations in Russia and Belarus and COVID-19 restrictions in China.

(LON:) stock rose 0.6% after Swiss media reported that the tobacco giant is set to close a cigarette manufacturing plant in Switzerland next year, laying off the 226 employees working there, in a cost-cutting measure.

Currys (LON:) stock slumped 6.6% after the U.K. electronic retailer recorded a hefty pretax loss in the first half of its fiscal year and cut its profit forecasts for the full year, after destocking and a slump in demand hurt its international business. 

Crude oil prices fell Thursday, snapping a three-day rally as the hawkish tone from the Federal Reserve coupled with the weak economic data from China raised fears about demand growth in the coming months.

Also weighing was official data from the showing that U.S. crude stocks rose by a hefty 10 million barrels last week, suggesting that near-term consumption in the world’s largest economy remained subdued. 

By 04:10 ET, traded 0.9% lower at $76.56 a barrel, while the contract fell 0.7% to $82.09. Both contracts were still trading over 6% higher for the week, after strong gains at the start of the week. 

Additionally, fell 1.8% to $1,785.45/oz, while traded 0.7% lower at 1.0612.

Statement: The content of this article does not represent the views of FTI website. The content is for reference only and does not constitute investment suggestions. Investment is risky, so you should be careful in your choice! If it involves content, copyright and other issues, please contact us and we will make adjustments at the first time!