European Markets Slide On Middle East Concerns

(RTTNews) - The major European markets slumped on Friday as heightened Middle East tensions offset encouraging inflation data from Germany and France.

Israel launched strikes against Iran, targeting nuclear facilities and ballistic missile factories as part of efforts "to damage Iran's nuclear infrastructure, its ballistic missile factories and military capabilities."

The overnight strikes on the country killed at least three of its senior military leaders. Iran retaliated by launching more than 100 drones toward Israeli territory.

Germany's DAX stumbled 255.22 points or 1.07 percent to finish at 23,516.23, while the FTSE in London shed 34.29 points or 0.39 percent to close at 8.850.63 and the CAC 40 in France sank 80.43 points or 1.04 percent to end at 7,684.68.

In Germany, Adidas tumbled 2.77 percent, while Volkswagen retreated 2.24 percent, Deutsche Bank declined 2.11 percent, Heidelberg Materials slumped 1.95 percent, Siemens Healthineers skidded 1.64 percent, Deutsche Borse dropped 1.51 percent, Deutsche Post sank 1.43 percent and Deutsche Telekom lost 1.09 percent.

In London, Schroders plunged 3.42 percent, while BAE Systems rallied 2.86 percent, easyJet stumbled 2.72 percent, Rolls-Royce tanked 1.96 percent, Tesco jumped 1.69 percent, Rightmove shed 1.53 percent, Compass Group fell 1.01 percent, Haleon slipped 0.97 percent, British American Tobacco gained 0.96 percent and Centrica added 0.45 percent.

In France, Atos plummeted 5.36 percent, while Wordline and Compagnie de Saint-Gobain both tumbled 2.76 percent, BNP Paribas dropped 1.57 percent, Engie improved 1.27 percent, Vinci and Kering both sank 1.19 percent, Sanofi lost 1.00 percent, Credit Agricole fell 0.84 percent and Societe Generale was down 0.78 percent.

In economic news, Germany's consumer prices logged a steady annual growth in May due to the continued decrease in energy prices, data from Destatis revealed. The consumer price index climbed 2.1 percent from a year ago, the same rate of growth as posted in April. The rate matched the flash estimate released on May 30.

France's consumer price inflation moderated slightly as estimated in May to the lowest level in more than four years amid a slowdown in costs for services and a continued fall in energy prices, statistical office INSEE revealed. This was the lowest inflation rate since February 2021, when prices had risen 0.6 percent.