European shares fell on Friday (14/6), ending a volatile week but one filled with new information for investors.
In particular, the pan-European Stoxx 600 closed up 1.01% at 510.84 points, with regional benchmarks down more than 2% this week.
In terms of major European indices, Germany’s DAX lost 1.42% to 18,005.00, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.21% to 8,146.86 and France’s CAC 40 lost 2.66% to 7,503.27. Regionally, Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 2.92% to 32,652.50, Spain’s IBEX 35 lost 0.70% to 10,988.50 and Portugal’s PSI fell 0.42% to 6,538.23.
With French stocks “plunging”, investors still fear the possibility of a victory for the populist, far-right National Alarm party, after the sudden decision of French President Emmanuel Macron to call national parliamentary elections.
At the same time, the yield of the country’s short-term bonds, which is opposite to prices, fell by seven basis points.
Auto shares meanwhile were rocked by the EU’s announcement of planned higher tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle makers and a UK emissions investigation.
Meanwhile, in the US, two sets of inflation data – the consumer price index and the producer price index – showed a slower-than-expected picture, boosting stocks on Wall Street. At the same time, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged and revised its outlook for rate cuts to only one for 2024.
In contrast, however, LSEG data, as the money market price continues to point to expectations for two 25 basis point cuts from the current range of 5.25% to 5.5% before the year ends.
In general, it should be noted that, on Friday, the focus is on Asia where the Bank of Japan kept its benchmark interest rate steady but indicated it might consider tapering its purchases of Japanese government bonds.