European Stocks Close Lower On Recession Fears

(RTTNews) - European stocks ended notably lower on Wednesday as fears about a possible recession rendered the mood bearish.

Investors also reacted to comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the Sintra forum that there was a risk the rate hikes may slow the economy too much. He added the bigger risk was letting inflation run rampant.

Automobile shares were among the major losers in European markets. Miners fell after recent gains on hopes of resurgent demand from China.

The pan European Stoxx 600 drifted down 0.67%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged down 0.15%, Germany's DAX tumbled 1.73% and France's CAC 40 shed 0.9%, while Switzerland's SMI edged up 0.02%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey ended sharp to moderately lower. Denmark closed on a positive note.

In the UK market, British Land plunged 8.6%. Ocado Group, Land Securities, Pearson, IAG, Whitbread, Antofagasta, ICP, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Aveva Group, Diageo, Segro, Fresnillo and Prudential lost 2 to 7%.

Standard Chartered climbed nearly 3%. AstraZeneca shed about 2.5%, while Severn Trent, United Utilities, B&M European Value Retail, GSK, RS Group, Experian and HSBC Holdings gained 1 to 2%.

In the French market, Atos, Renault, Accor, Unibail Rodamco, Air France-KLM, Vivendi, Faurecia, Safran, ArcelorMittal and CapGemini lost 3 to 6%.

Saint Gobain, Airbus Group, Pernod Ricard, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Publicis Groupe, Sodexo and STMicroElectronics also declined sharply, while Sanofi rallied 1.5%.

In Germany, Volkswagen, Bayer, Covestro, Porsche Automobil, Deutsche Bank, MTU Aero Engines, BASF, E.ON, BMW, Daimler, Siemens, HeidelbergCement, Vonovia and Linde lost 2 to 4.4%.

In economic releases, Eurozone's final consumer confidence index arrived at -23.6 in June vs. -23.6 recorded previously, matching estimates.

A preliminary reading on German inflation is awaited. The euro trimmed losses after Spain's annual inflation rate hit a 37-year high.

U.K. shop prices grew at the fastest pace since 2008, reflecting the cost of living crisis, separate data published by the British Retail Consortium showed.

The BRC-NielsenIQ shop price index increased 3.1% on a yearly basis in June, following May's 2.8% rise. This was the biggest annual growth since September 2008.