European shares tumbled today, as minutes from the European Central Bank’s latest meeting raised concerns about the state of euro zone inflation and tightening monetary policy to tame it, while falling retail sales heightened concern about a looming economic slowdown.
The European Stoxx 600 index rebounded from the early gains it made in the session and fell 0.6 percent, recording losses for the second consecutive session.
European stocks saw a boost at the start of the week on hopes that the US Federal Reserve and other central banks would switch to a less hawkish approach.
However, the ECB meeting minutes on September 7-8 showed that policy makers are concerned that inflation could long hold at very high levels, making aggressive monetary tightening necessary, even if it leads to a slowdown in growth. .
The European Central Bank raised interest rates by 75 basis points at the last meeting and promised more increases even as the bloc’s nations grapple with rising prices and a cost-of-living crisis.
Most of the sub-sectors on the Stoxx index were in the red, led by the mining and utilities indices declining by nearly 2 per cent.
The FTSE 100 index gave up the gains it made early in the session, falling 0.8 percent, while the index of medium-sized companies focused on the domestic market rose 0.4 percent.
Shares of Shell fell 2.8 percent after the oil giant said its third-quarter profit will fall due to a sharp decline in refining margins and weak natural gas trading revenues.