European shares fell on Tuesday as they failed to shrug off concerns about interest rate increases amid a growing energy crisis and a looming economic recession. After rising as much as one percent, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index retreated from all its gains by the end of the session to close down 0.7 percent, extending its losses in the past three sessions to more than three percent, while reinforced by a hawkish tone from officials of the European Central Bank and the head of the US Federal Reserve Jerome Powell forecasts further interest rate increases.
While all sectors in the European stock market fell, bank shares, which tend to benefit from the high interest rate environment, rose 0.9 percent after traders calculated a more than two-thirds chance of a 75 basis point increase in interest rates at the European Central Bank meeting on the eighth of September. .
Concerns persisted about a planned three-day halt to natural gas flows to Europe from Russia’s Gazprom Energy through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, starting on Wednesday.
(Archyde.com)