European stocks fell today, Friday, to end the week’s trading sharply lower major central banks With more interest rate hikes, economic activity data in the Eurozone failed to allay fears of a looming recession.
The Stoxx 600 index ended the day’s trading down 1.2 percent, ending the week down by 3.3 percent.
In Thursday’s session, the index recorded its largest one-day decline since May, after the European Central Bank joined the Council Federal Reserve (US central bank) in signaling that monetary tightening will continue even if this has repercussions on the economy.
and raise the European Central Bank, andBank of England (central)interest rates by half a percentage point, and they confirmed the US Federal Reserve’s expectations for more increases in the future to control Runaway inflation.
ECB President Christine Lagarde said on Thursday that more decisions are likely to be taken to raise interest rates by 50 basis points for a while.
Italian ministers criticized the European Central Bank, after its decision to raise borrowing costs increased financial pressure on one of the most indebted countries in the euro zone.
The main index in Italy fell 0.2 percent at the close, continuing the decline for the third week in a row.
Data published today, Friday, showed that business activity in the euro zone contracted in December at the slowest pace in four months, but it continued to contract for the sixth month in a row.
The performance of health care stocks overshadowed the performance of the Stoxx 600 index, as shares of pharmaceutical companies Bayer and AstraZeneca fell 3.8 and 1.8 percent, respectively.
Industrial stocks fell 4.8 percent, continuing to fall for the third day in a row.
(Archyde.com, The New Arab)