European stocks were lower Thursday, taking their cues from a selloff on Wall Street as well as a pull back in oil prices, but French lender Société Générale SA shares were up after quarterly results.
What are indexes doing?
The Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, -0.60% fell 0.1% to 379.56, but had opened lower by 0.5%. The telecom, basic materials and oil and gas sectors were losing the most, but the consumer services and financial group notched small gains. On Wednesday, the index rose 2%, breaking a string of seven straight declines.
Germany’s DAX 30 index DAX, -0.95% fell 0.5% to 12,520.26 and France’s CAC 40 index PX1, -0.69% fell 0.4% to 5,236.49. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 UKX, -0.61% was down 0.4% to 7,251.72 and Spain’s IBEX 35 index IBEX, -1.00% was off 0.6% to 9,922.70.
The euro EURUSD, -0.1386% fell to $1.2239, down from $1.2265 late Wednesday in New York.
What’s driving the market?
European stocks weren’t capitalizing on Wednesday’s gains, appearing instead to key off losses on Wall Street, where a spike in the 10-year Treasury yield triggered a sudden selloff. The S&P 500 Index SPX, -0.50% dropped 0.5%. The spike in bond yields came after news that top senators struck a two-year budget deal that would raise fiscal spending and avoid a government shutdown.
“Investors across the globe are finding it [a] difficult time currently to decide on whether to buy the recent dips, or to remain on the sidelines until the dust settles,” said Hussein Sayed, chief market strategist at FXTM, in a note. “Speculators may be having some fun trading such a volatile market, but this isn’t true for longer-term investors.”
The euro EURUSD, -0.1386% remained lower Thursday after the U.S. dollar DXY, +0.15% jumped Wednesday alongside news of the budget deal. A lower euro can help shares of European exporters, as it makes their products less expensive for overseas clients to buy, but softness in the shared currency wasn’t bolstering stocks.
In the U.K., the Bank of England will issue its latest policy decision and its quarterly inflation report, at 12 p.m. London time, or 7 a.m. Eastern Time, followed by a press conference by BOE Governor Mark Carney at 12:30 p.m. in London.
The central bank isn’t expected to make any changes to policy, but investors will watch for any clues as to when the bank may next raise interest rates.
Read: BOE: 3 things that would signal a rate rise is coming this spring
Energy stocks SXEP, -0.92% meanwhile, fell as dollar-denominated oil prices CLH8, -0.84% were lower by roughly 0.5% alongside a stronger dollar.
Stock movers
Société Générale SA GLE, +3.86% rose 3.5% after the French lender’s fourth-quarter net profit fell significantly, hit by one-off items, but the profit of 69 million euros ($85.1 million) was above analyst expectations.