BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks tumbled to close sharply lower on Thursday as fears of a second wave of coronavirus infection after reports showed an increase in new cases, and worries about a deep recession after the Federal Reserve's most recent comments on the outlook for the U.S. economy triggered a sell-off in the region.
A recent report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that said the global economy is undergoing the deepest recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s due to the coronavirus, or Covid-19, pandemic, continued to weigh on the markets.
Crude oil's slide and the sharp erosion in values of stocks on Wall Street further dented sentiment.
As several markets across Europe fell and most of the sectors suffered sharp losses, the pan European Stoxx 600 slid 4.1%. Among the major indices in Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 declined 3.99%, Germany's DAX tumbled 4.47%, France's CAC 40 lost 4.71% and Switzerland's SMI shed 3.14%.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden lost 1 to 5%. Turkey ended modestly higher.
In the U.K. market, all but five stocks among the FTSE 100 components ended in negative territory. Carnival, down 11%, suffered the most. TUI, Melrose, Royal Bank, Lloyds Banking Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings, ITV, Standard Chartered, Whitbread, IAG, Vodafone, EasyJet, Barclays, HSBC Holdings and Johnson Matthey lost 6 to 8.5%.
In Germany, all the 30 stocks from the DAX closed weak. Lufthansa, Thyssenkrupp, Daimler, Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank, BASF, Siemens, Adidas, BMW, Infienon Technologies, Bayer and HeidelbergCement lost 4 to 9%.
France's CAC 400 too showed no gainers for the session. Among the big losers, Renault tumbled more than 13%. Unibail Rodamco plunged 12.5%, while Technip and Airbus both ended lower by about 10.5%.
Societe Generale, Peugeot, BNP Paribas, Bouygues, Credit Agricole, Sodexo, Safran, Michelin, Capgemini, ArcelorMittal and Publicis Groupe lost 4.5 to 10%.
U.S. stocks are tumbling amid concerns about a second wave of coronavirus cases, as recent data has led to worries about economic reopening leading to a spike in infections.
According to data CNN aggregated from the Covid Tracking Project, the number of coronavirus hospitalizations since Memorial Day has risen in at least a dozen states. Texas reported 2,504 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, reflecting the highest one-day total in the state since the pandemic emerged.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. has also passed the two-million mark, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The U.S. Federal Reserve left its interest rates at zero to 0.25% on Wednesday and indicated that the rates would remain near zero through 2022.
The Fed projected U.S.' real GDP to nosedive by 6.5% in 2020, as the ongoing public health crisis weighs heavily on economic activity.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX