European Stocks Tumble As Lack Of Progress In U.S. Debt Ceiling Talks Weigh

(RTTNews) - European stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday amid rising concerns about a lack of progress in U.S. debt deal talks.

Worries about slowing growth, and prospects of policy tightening by several central banks also contributed to the negative sentiment in stock markets.

The U.S. Treasury Department has asked federal agencies whether they can make upcoming payments at a later date, the Washington Post reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen previously warned lawmakers that a default in early June is "highly likely."

Investors also looked ahead to the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting for clues about future interest rate moves.

The pan European Stoxx 600 tumbled 1.81%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 dropped 1.75%, Germany's DAX fell 1.92% and France's CAC 40 declined 1.7%, while Switzerland's SMI ended 0.89% down.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye ended with sharp to moderate losses.

Czech Republic ended slightly lower, while Russia closed in positive territory.

In the UK market, Carnival plunged nearly 7%. Prudential, Aviva, Persimmon, Phoenix Holdings, Taylor Wimpey, Informa, Just Eat Takeaway.com, Flutter Entertainment, Berkeley Holdings and Rolls-Royce Holdings lost 4 to 6%.

Entain, TUI, Barratt Developments, JD Sports Fashion, Schrodders, Segro, BHP and Smurfit Kappa were also among the major losers.

Polymetal International rallied 3.8%, Intertek gained about 3.4%, and SSE gained 1.6%.

In the German market, Infienon fell 5.5%. Porsche, Daimler Truck Holding, Zalando, Continental, Fresenius Medical Care, Sartorius, Adidas, Vonovia, Commerzbank, Covestro, Siemens Energy, Deutsche Bank and BASF lost 2 to 5%.

In Paris, Stellantis fell more than 4%. WorldLine, Schneider Electric, Unibail Rodamco, Vivendi, Renault, Veolia, Saint Gobain, Capgemini, AXA, Michelin, Safran, Kering, Alstom, Publicis Groupe, L'Oreal, LVMH and Societe Generale ended lower by 2 to 3.5%.

In economic news, UK consumer price inflation slowed in April but the core rate accelerated unexpectedly, data from the Office for National Statistics showed on Wednesday.

The consumer price index registered an annual increase of 8.7% in April after a 10.1% gain in March. Inflation was forecast to ease to 8.3%. Meanwhile, core inflation that excludes energy, food, alcoholic beverages and tobacco advanced to 6.8% in April from 6.2% in the previous month. The rate was forecast to remain unchanged at 6.2%.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices gained 1.2% but faster than the 0.8% rise in March.

Germany's business confidence weakened for the first time in seven months in May as managers were skeptical about the upcoming summer amid the tightening monetary policy and mounting fears of recession in the US, survey data from the ifo Institute showed. The business confidence index fell more-than-expected to 91.7 in May from a revised 93.4 in the previous month.