European markets fell sharply on Thursday, following their global counterparts lower after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled yesterday that few rates cuts are on the horizon.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down around 0.9% at 8:51 a.m. London time, with almost all sectors trading in negative territory.
Major regional bourses also lost ground, with the German DAX, the French CAC 40 and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 all pulling back.
The anticipated lower open for Europe comes follows a Wednesday sell-off on Wall Street after the Fed, which cut its overnight borrowing rate by 25 basis points to a target range of 4.25% to 4.5%, signalled there will likely only be two rate cuts in 2025, rather than the four cuts indicated in its previous forecast.
“We moved pretty quickly to get to here, and I think going forward obviously we’re moving slower,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at the post-meeting press conference.
The comments prompted panic on Wall Street, with U.S. stocks plunging as bull market sentiment was dealt a blow. Overnight, Asia-Pacific markets and currencies also fell.
There’s more central bank action in Europe Thursday with monetary policy decisions due from the Bank of England and Norges Bank, the central bank of Norway.
Investors will also be keeping an eye on European new passenger car registration data, Germany’s Gfk consumer confidence figures and Spanish trade data to gauge the health of the region’s economy.
— CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed to this market report
