European Stocks Down In Negative Territory; BoE Rate Decision In Focus

(RTTNews) - European stocks are down firmly in negative territory a little before noon on Thursday as investors weigh the impact of the Federal Reserve's policy move, and react to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's comments.

The Fed raised rates by 25 basis points as expected on Wednesday, and also signaled one more hike to continue its fight against inflation.

Yellen told Congress that the regulators are not looking to provide any "blanket" deposit insurance to stabilise the US banking system, without working with law makers.

Meanwhile, investors await the policy statement from the Bank of England (BoE). Despite the recent turbulence in the banking sector, the BoE is expected to raise its benchmark rate by a quarter-point after official data showed an unexpected acceleration in inflation in February. The announcement is due at 8.00 AM ET.

The Swiss National Bank today raised its key rate by 50 basis points to 1.5%, as widely expected. The bank, which has now raised rates for the fourth time in succession, also said further hikes are likely.

"It cannot be ruled out that additional rises in the SNB policy rate will be necessary to ensure price stability over the medium term," the central bank said, and added that further sales of its foreign currency reserves to support the franc are also possible.

The SNB has raised rates despite the financial turmoil. Last week, the central bank agreed to lend troubled lender Credit Suisse up to 50 billion Swiss francs to shore up liquidity.

The pan European Stoxx 600 is down 0.93%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 is drifting down 1.08%, Germany's DAX is lower by about 0.75% and France's CAC 40 is down 0.67%. Switzerland's SMI is down 1.1%.

In the UK market, Schrodders is down nearly 4%. HSBC Holdings, Standard Chartered, Ocado Group, British American Tobacco, Informa, Polymetal International, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Rio Tinto, Tesco and Hikma Pharamceuticals are down 2 to 3.7%.

Endeavour Mining is surging 2.3%. Melrose Industries, Natwest Group, Severn Trent, United Utilities and BAE Systems are up with moderate gains.

In Paris, Teleperformance shares are down more than 6%. Unibail Rodamco, Vinci, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, AXA, Carrefour and Renault are lower by 2 to 3.4%.

Sanofi is surging more than 5%. The company announced that its asthma and eczema drug Dupixent, jointly developed with Regeneron, met all targets in a trial to treat "smoker's lung".

In the German market, Commerzbank is down more than 3% and Deutsche Bank is lower by about 2.4%. Volkswagen, Covestro, Siemens, Daimler, Bayer, HeidelbergCement and Allianz are down 1 to 2%.

In the Swiss market, UBS Group is down 4.2% and Credit Suisse is drifting down 3.7%.

Swiss Life Holding, Holci, Swiss RE, ABB, Partners Group, Logitech and Lonza Group are also notably lower.