Europe midday: Shares slide into red; Covestro jumps on bid talk

European shares slid into the red on Tuesday as early optimism turned to caution over the rise of far-right parties in European parliament elections and how a US interest rate decision and inflation data later in the week will play out.

The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was down 0.6% to 519.08. France’s CAC 40 was down 0.87% to 7,825 following sharp falls on Monday after President Emmanuel Macron’s shock decision to call a snap election.

Traders expect the US Federal Reserve to keep rates unchanged with stronger-than-expected payrolls data fuelling inflationary concerns among policymakers and diminishing earlier hopes of multiple rate cuts this year.

In the UK, employment data showed the number of payrolled employees was up 0.6% year on year in May, but the unemployment rate ticked higher to 4.4% from 4.3% on a quarterly basis.

Annual wage growth excluding bonuses was steady at 6% over the three months to April, giving the Bank of England a headache as it plots the future rate path.

The news was also a blow to beleaguered Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose gaffe-ridden general election campaign fails to make any dent in the large poll lead held by the main opposition Labour Party.

With corporate news thin on the ground there was little to drive sentiment. Shares in Covestro surged on reports the German chemicals maker was close to granting Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) access to in-depth due diligence in expectation of an improved takeover bid.

Shares in Atos plunged by almost 14% at one stage as the struggling tech group and defence contractor, said it had chosen a takeover offer by a consortium led by its top shareholder Onepoint.

Atos, which runs the IT for France's nuclear deterrent and is the IT partner for the Paris Olympics, is labouring under almost €5bn of debt. The Onepoint bid was chosen over a rival offer from Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.

Rio Tinto fell as it agreed to buy Mitsubishi Corp's 11.65% stake in Boyne Smelters for an undisclosed sum.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com