European Shares Decline As Growth Worries Mount

(RTTNews) - European stocks fell on Thursday to touch three-week lows after Eurozone's Services PMI was finalized at a six-month low of 50.9 in July.

U.K. services growth cooled to a six-month low in July and German exports data disappointed, adding to concerns around slowing growth.

Investors also awaited the Bank of England monetary policy decision as well as earnings from Apple and Amazon later in the day.

The Bank of England's rate decision is likely to be a close call between a 25 basis-point and a 50 basis-point hike. The announcement is due at 7.00 am ET.

The central bank will also release its quarterly monetary policy report along with the policy decision.

The dollar hit a four-month high against major peers as signs of resilience in the U.S. labor market revived Fed rate hike bets.

The pan European STOXX 600 dropped 1 percent to 456.29 after losing 1.4 percent on Wednesday.

The German DAX shed 0.9 percent, France's CAC 40 fell more than 1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 1.3 percent.

Miners led losses, with Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore all falling around 2 percent.

Energy giants BP Plc and Shell both were down around 1 percent as oil price fell further from more than three-month highs despite data showing a historic drop in U.S. crude inventories.

Rolls-Royce shares rose about 1 percent after the aero-engineer reported a jump in first-half profit, led by a large improvement in its civil aerospace margin.

Adecco, a global leader in HR solutions, jumped 6.4 percent after second quarter revenues slightly beat forecasts.

Societe Generale shares rallied 2.3 percent after the French lender returned to profit in the second quarter of this year and announced the launch of the 2022 share buyback program, for around 440 million euros.

Axa dropped 1.3 percent. The insurer reported that its first-half net income edged down to 3.833 billion euros from last year's 3.852 billion euros.

Infineon plunged 7.8 percent after the German chipmaker disclosed a 10 percent decline in its quarterly adjusted, or "segment," result compared to the previous quarter.

BMW lost 2.3 percent after the automaker warned of inflation and supply chain issues. Sportswear manufacturer Adidas edged up more than 1 percent after lifting its sales outlook.