BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks drifted lower on Thursday as a broad global bond sell-off and surging oil prices revived inflation and interest-rate worries.
Brent crude futures topped $104 a barrel after reports suggested that the White House asked the Pentagon to draw up strike options against Iran that could be executed before the midterm elections.
U.S. Treasury yields surged back toward multi-decade highs, with yields on 10-year and 30-year Treasury notes trading near 5.32 percent and 5.71 percent, respectively after the minutes of the September Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting showed unanimous support for another interest-rate hike by the end of this year.
Investors were also reacting to downbeat data that showed Germany's exports declined unexpectedly in August.
Exports dropped 0.8 percent on a monthly basis, following a 0.5 percent decrease in July while imports rose 0.9 percent, reversing a fall of 5.5 percent in July, Destatis reported.
The pan-European STOXX 600 dropped 0.9 percent to 624.77 after falling 1 percent on Wednesday.
The German DAX declined 0.7 percent, France's CAC 40 fell 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.4 percent.
Energy giants BP Plc, Shell and TotalEnergies all rose over 1 percent as Brent crude prices jumped nearly 4 percent on heightened concerns of U.S.-Iran war escalation.
Banks traded lower, with Commerzbank, BNP Paribas and Lloyds Bank falling 1-2 percent, as Euro zone bond yields climbed towards their recent peaks.
Edinburgh investment company Aberdeen rose 1.3 percent as it announced plans to reduce its stake in insurer Standard Life to 5.2 percent from the current 10.3 percent. Shares of the latter slumped 4.3 percent.
Telecoms group Vodafone fell about 1 percent after lifting the cost-saving target for its merged U.K. business.
Supermarket group Tesco jumped nearly 4 percent after issuing slightly improved profit outlook and increasing the size of its share buyback program.
Imperial Brands rallied 2.4 percent. The tobacco maker reaffirmed its FY26 guidance and announced plans to buy back 1.5 billion pounds in shares in fiscal 2027.
Denmark-based biotechnology company Bavarian Nordia soared 5 percent after raising its full-year guidance.
Bayer dropped 1.3 percent. The German pharmaceutical and biotechnology firm announced that the U.S. FDA has accepted its supplemental New Drug Application for KERENDIA.
Argenx shares plummeted 18 percent. The Belgian-Dutch pharmaceutical company specializing in immunology said it had stopped its Phase 3 UNITY study testing efgartigimod SC in adults with moderate-to-severe Sjogren's disease.
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