European Shares Slump On Iran Concerns

(RTTNews) - European stocks dropped on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump urged residents of Tehran to 'immediately evacuate,' signaling potential escalation of the conflict.

U.S. involvement in the Iran/Israel conflict appears to be escalating after Trump said the U.S. has total control of Iranian airspace.

Also, Israel's military claimed today it had killed Ali Shadmani, who it identified as Iran's wartime chief of staff and said was the most senior military commander.

The DAX in Germany stumbled 264.47 points or 1.12 percent to finish at 23,434.65, while the FTSE in London sank 41.19 points or 0.46 percent to close at 8,834.03 and the CAC 40 in France lost 58.51 points or 0.76 percent to end at 7,683.73.

In Germany, Fresenius Medical Care stumbled 4.47 percent, while Deutsche Telekom and Deutsche Bank both tanked 2.11 percent, Infineon Technologies retreated 1.66 percent, Deutsche Borse slumped 1.21 percent, Siemens dropped 0.93 percent, Heidelberg Materials sank 0.81 percent, Deutsche Post lost 0.69 percent and E.ON rose 0.16 percent.

In London, Ashtead Group surged 4.15 percent, while Entain stumbled 3.28 percent, easyJet surrendered 2.72 percent, Haleon and Antofagasta both declined 1.53 percent, Shell jumped 1.43 percent, Vodafone Group and Spirax Group both sank 0.93 percent, Prudential shed 0.69 percent, Centrica lost 0.65 percent, Rolls-Royce added 0.59 percent, Tesco rose 0.53 percent and British American Tobacco eased 0.17 percent.

In France, Kering plunged 4.09 percent, while Societe Generale tumbled 3.94 percent, Vivendi retreated 2.23 percent, BNP Paribas slumped 1.97 percent, Credit Agricole sank 1.58 percent, Engie dropped 1.36 percent, Vinci was down 0.76 percent, Carrefour fell 0.50 percent and Sanofi skidded 1.20 percent.

In economic news, investor confidence in Germany improved more than expected in June, underpinned by rising consumer demand and spending plans of the new government, a monthly survey from think tank ZEW showed on Tuesday. The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment surged to a three-month high of 47.5 in June from 25.2 in the previous month. The score was seen at 34.8.

Sweden's jobless rate increased further in May to the highest level in four months, figures from Statistics Sweden showed on Tuesday. The unadjusted unemployment rate rose to 9.7 percent in May from 8.9 percent in April. In the same month last year, the jobless rate was 8.7 percent.

Ireland's foreign trade surplus climbed annually in April as exports rose amid a fall in imports, figures from the Central Statistics Office showed on Tuesday. The trade surplus rose to EUR 11.1 billion in April from EUR 8.6 billion in the corresponding month last year. However, the surplus decreased from EUR 25.0 billion in March. Exports logged an annual growth of 12.7 percent in April, while imports fell 0.2 percent.