European Shares Decline Amid Omicron, Inflation Threat

European stocks fell in cautious trade on Thursday, with fears around the Omicron coronavirus variant and warnings about inflation from major central banks weighing on sentiment.

The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index was down 0.8 percent at 466.91 after rallying 1.7 percent on Wednesday.

The German DAX dropped 0.8 percent, while France’s CAC 40 index and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 were down around 0.7 percent each.

Chipmakers Infineon Technologies, ASML Holding and AMS fell 2-4 percent after reports that Apple told some of its parts suppliers that demand for iPhone 13 has slowed.

ThyssenKrupp fell about 1 percent in choppy trade. The German industrial engineering and steel production company said in its update that despite persisting Covid-19 related headwinds and other hurdles, it expects a turnaround to profit during the current fiscal.

Safran gained 0.7 percent. The French aerospace company said it expects organic revenue growth over 2021-2025 to reach 10 percent CAGR.

Luxury goods company Hermes fell around 2 percent despite its inclusion in the Euro STOXX 50 index.

Sandvik AB was down about 1 percent. The Swedish engineering company has signed an agreement to acquire privately held Australian firm Deswik, a provider of mine planning software, for an undisclosed sum.

Miners Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore fell 1-2 percent after the OECD warned sluggish growth could be further derailed by the new Covid-19 variant.

Chemicals and engineering firm Johnson Matthey gave up 1.7 percent and tech darling Darktrace tumbled 3.3 percent in London after index manager FTSE Russell confirmed that the companies will be ousted from the FTSE 100 index.

Oil & gas company Royal Dutch Shell rose about 1 percent after announcing the commencement of up to $1.5 billion of share buybacks.

Electra Private Equity rallied 3.7 percent. The private equity investor said it would soon begin the process of moving from Britain’s main stock market to the junior AIM market.

Source: Read Full Article