Europe open: Shares fall as investors wait on euro zone, US data
European stocks opened Thursday’s session lower as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of US and European economic data.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.15% with regional bourses all lower. In the euro zone, IHS Markit’s final reading of May services sector activity is due later in the day, while US jobs data is due Friday.
"Markets are treading water ahead of more economic data points which will further inform the inflation debate,” said Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor.
"One of the drivers of market jitters around inflationary pressures has been bottlenecks in the labour market, and over the next two days the jobless claims number and the non-farm payrolls reading will provide new evidence on the state of the nation.”
Hunter added that rising oil prices were also a concern “as there does not seem to be any excessive supply coming on stream for the moment from the major producing countries”
"In the meantime, there has been a cautious move towards defensive stocks as investors position themselves for what could be a volatile couple of trading sessions."
In equity news, discount retailer B&M European Value Retail fell after it warned 2022 UK revenues would be lower against tough comparatives as it reported better-than-expected annual profits.
UK telecoms company BT Group was knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘sell’ from ‘hold’ at Deutsche Bank, while Experian lost ground after a downgrade to ‘underperform’ at RBC Capital Markets.
French spirits group Remy Cointreau rose as it topped estimates for full-year operating profit growth as investors enjoyed an 85% rise in dividends.
French construction materials group Saint-Gobain was up more than 3% after forecasting record operating income and margin in the first half of the year.