European Stocks Close Sharply Lower On Recession Fears, Virus Jitters

(RTTNews) - European stocks tanked on Monday, extending losses from the previous session, as fears of a possible recession and news of a "ferocious" COVID-19 outbreak in Beijing's most populous district of Chaoyang sapped investors' appetite for riskier assets.

Fears of aggressive monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve following last week's hot inflation data weighed on sentiment. The Fed is scheduled to announce its monetary policy on Wednesday. The central bank expected to continuing raising interest rates in an effort to combat inflation.

The Bank of England's policy announcement is also due later this week.

Disappointing UK growth data hurt as well. Data from the Office for National Statistics said U.K. GDP fell unexpectedly by 0.3% month-on-month in April, faster than the 0.1% drop in March. This was the second consecutive contraction. Economists had expected GDP to grow 0.1% in the month.

The pan European Stoxx 600 drifted down 2.41%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended 1.53% down, Germany's DAX shed 2.43% and France's CAC 40 dropped 2.67%, while Switzerland's SMI declined 1.7%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkey lost 1 to 3.2%. Russia ended slightly weak.

In the UK market, Glencore, Antofagasta, IHG, Scottish Mortgage, Anglo American Plc, Barratt Developments, Sainsbury (J), Rio Tinto, BP, Shell, Persimmon, B&M European Value Retail and Tesco lost 2.7 to 5.4%.

Fresnillo rallied 6.25%. Vodafone Group, HSBC Holdings, United Utilities, BT Group and Melrose Industries gained 0.4 to 1%.

In the French market, Atos plunged more than 10%. Faurecia lost about 8%. Valeo, Renault, Accor, Air France-KLM, STMicroElectronics, Dassault Systemes, Saint Gobain, Michelin, Credit Agricole, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, Airbus Group, ArcelorMittal and Sodexo ended lower by 4 to 7%.

Valneva shares tanked more than 25% after the French drug maker warned over prospects for its COVID-19 vaccine.

Thales gained about 2%. Orange, Danone and Carrefour posted modest gains.

In Germany, Infineon Technologies dropped nearly 7%. HelloFresh, Vonovia, Porsche Automobil, Sartorius, Volkswagen, Deutsche Wohnen, RWE, MTU Aero Engines and Daimler lost 4 to 6%.

BMW, Adidas, Siemens, HeidelbergCement, SAP, E.ON and Deutsche Bank also declined sharply. German wind turbine maker Nordex AG slumped nearly 8% despite winning an order to supply 105 MW turbines for Krivaca, the first wind farm in eastern Serbia.

Brenntag climbed about 2.6%. Fresenius Medical Care ended modestly higher.