Major European Markets Close Slightly Down After Lackluster Session

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed slightly lower on Monday after a somewhat lackluster session as investors stayed wary of creating fresh positions amid fading hopes of an early interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve and a few other central banks.

Comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell that the bank is unlikely to cut interest rates next month during an interview with "60 Minutes" on Sunday weighed on sentiment.

Powell suggested the strength of the U.S. economy even amidst elevated rates will allow the Fed to proceed carefully. "With the economy strong like that, we feel like we can approach the question of when to begin to reduce interest rates carefully," Powell said.

"We want to see more evidence that inflation is moving sustainably down to 2%," He added. "Our confidence is rising. We just want some more confidence before we take that very important step of beginning to cut interest rates."

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down 0.05%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 ended down 0.04%, 0.08% and 0.03%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI climbed up 0.31%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden climbed higher.

Denmark, Greece, Netherlands, Russia and Turkiye closed higher, while Belgium ended flat.

In the UK market, Ashtead, JD Sports Fashion, Howden Joinery, Airtel Africa, Barclays, Weir Holdings, Vodafone and Glencore lost 2 to 5%.

Lloyds Bank ended down by about 1.4% after the Financial Times reported that Iran evaded sanctions and was able to covertly move money around the world using accounts at Lloyds and Santander.

IMI, Kingfisher, Anglo American Plc, Frasers Group, RS Group, Barratt Developments, BT, Endeavour Mining, BP and Rio Tinto also ended notably lower.

Ocado Group surged nearly 4%. GlaxoSmithKline advanced by about 3%. Croda International, Diageo, Smith & Nephew, Informa, Unilever, Haleon, Flutter Entertainment, Burberry Group and Scottish Mortgage gained 1 to 2%.

In Germany, Deutsche Bank ended down 2.7%. Continental and Zalando ended lower by about 2.5% and 2.1%, respectively. Mercedes-Benz, Vonovia, BMW, Siemens, Volkswagen and Deutsche Post lost 0.8 to 2%.

Beiersdorf climbed about 4.3%. Puma gained nearly 3%, while Infineon, Hannover Rueck, Symrise and Henkel gained 1.4 to 2.2%.

In the French market, Alstom ended down nearly 4%. Arcelor Mittal, Air Liquide, Stellantis, Saint Gobain, TotalEnergies and Orange lost 1 to 2.6%.

Societe Generale ended lower by about 1.4%. The French lender announced that the implementation of organizational changes would result in approximately 900 job cuts at its head office without forced departures.

STMicroElectronics, Kering, Pernod Ricard, L'Oreal, Danone, Vinci and Teleperformance gained 1 to 2%.

In European economic news, data from Destatis showed Germany's exports fell 4.6% in December, in contrast to the 3.5% increase in November. Exports were expected to drop 2%.

Imports fell 6.7% in December, reversing a 1.5% gain in November. Economists had forecast imports to drop moderately by 1.8%.

Eurozone producer prices fell 10.6% year-over-year in December, faster than the 8.8% decrease in November, data from Eurostat showed. Prices were expected to decline 10.5%.

Euro area investor confidence strengthened for the fourth straight month to a ten-month high in February but the level remained weak due to the negative economic pull from Germany, survey data published by the behavioral research institute Sentix showed.

Elsewhere, the final Purchasing Managers' survey results showed that the Eurozone private sector contracted at the slowest pace since last July as southern economies boosted the momentum.

The Sentix investor confidence index advanced to -12.9 in February from -15.8 in January. The index hit the highest since April 2023. The reading was expected to advance to -15.0.

The British service sector grew at the fastest pace in eight months in January amid a sustained rise in new orders, final survey results from S&P Global revealed.

The final Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply Services Purchasing Managers' Index climbed to 54.3 in January from 53.4 in December. The flash reading was 53.8.

The score was above the 50.0 no-change value for the third straight month, signalling the fastest rate of business activity growth since May 2023.