European Shares Decline After Rally Amid US-Iran Truce Uncertainty

(RTTNews) - European stocks traded lower on Thursday as German industrial output data disappointed and doubts grew over the Midde East truce.

Germany's industrial production dropped unexpectedly in February even before the outbreak of war in the Middle East, data from Destatis revealed.

Industrial production fell 0.3 percent in February compared to January, when it was flat. Production was expected to grow 0.6 percent.

Euro zone government bond yields edged higher as cracks quickly began to appear in the fragile Gulf truce.

With Israel expanding Lebanon strikes, the Islamic Republic has closed the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's semi-official news agencies published a chart today, suggesting the country's Revolutionary Guard Navy put sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz during the war.

"The U.S. must choose ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both. The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments," Iran Foreign Minister Araghchi said in a post on X.

U.S. President Donald Trump said that U.S. military forces will remain deployed in and around Iran until Tehran fully complies with the "real agreement."

The pan European Stoxx 600 fell 0.7 percent to 609.46 after climbing 3.9 percent on Wednesday.

The German DAX tumbled 1.2 percent, France's CAC 40 shed 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.2 percent.

In corporate news, Dutch pharmaceutical compounding company Fagron fell 1.4 percent despite reporting a robust revenue performance for Q1 2026.

British American Tobacco dropped half a percent after appointing Dragos Constantinescu as its new chief financial officer.

London Stock Exchange Group rose about 1 percent after launching a share buyback program of up to 900 million pounds.