PARIS: European shares closed lower on Wednesday, with industrials leading declines and BP shares falling after the oil firm CEO’s abrupt exit, while investors braced for the European Central Bank’s monetary policy decision on Thursday.
The pan-European STOXX 600 slid 0.3%. The industrial sector dipped 0.8% as Alstom lost 3.9% after Barclays initiated coverage on the French industry and infrastructure manufacturer’s stock with an “underweight” rating.
BP lost 2.8% after CEO Bernard Looney resigned on Tuesday with immediate effect after failing to fully disclose details of past personal relationships with colleagues.
Meanwhile, US consumer prices increased by the most in 14 months in August as gasoline prices surged, but the annual rise in underlying inflation was the smallest in nearly two years, potentially allowing the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates unchanged next week.
“From a general market standpoint, this doesn’t change the general trajectory all that much,” said Madison Faller, investment strategist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank.
“The ECB and Bank of England want to take the Fed’s lead, they desperately want to go on pause, but they have a trickier scenario because they haven’t seen inflation fall as meaningfully as we’ve seen it fall in the US” Market pricing currently reflects nearly a 64% chance the ECB will raise rates by 25 basis points, up from around 40% on Monday.
Data showed euro zone industrial production dropped much more than expected in July, underlining downward revisions of economic growth for this year in European Commission forecasts.
Helping limit losses, European banks added 0.6%, posting their fourth straight session of gains.
Shares of wind turbine makers Siemens Energy, Vestas and Nordex rose in the range of 1.3% and 5.3% after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union will put forward a package of measures to support the EU’s wind power industry.
Aviva added 4.6% after the British insurer said it is quitting its Singlife joint venture and selling its 25.9% stake in Singapore Life Holdings and two debt instruments to Sumitomo Life.
Bayer fell 4.6% after J.P. Morgan placed the German drugs-to-pesticides group on negative catalyst watch.
Kingspan confirmed media reports that it had recent, informal discussions about a tie-up with rival Carlisle Companies, but that there was currently no active engagement between the companies. Shares of the Irish construction firm fell 2.7%.