LONDON: European stock markets ended a highly volatile session on a mostly downbeat note, as investors digested disappointing U.S. retail sales and mixed corporate news.
The main indexes had opened mostly higher, boosted by gains for commodity prices and optimism over the European Central Bank’s bond-buying program, now in its fourth day after launching on Monday. The central bank will buy 60 billion euros ($63.74 billion) a month and has over the first three days it’s bought €9.8 billion ($10.3 billion), executive board member Benoît Cœuré said on Thursday.
Indexes: The Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, -0.03% ended 0.03% lower at 395.36, after posting its biggest one-day jump since January on Wednesday.
France’s CAC 40 index PX1, -0.21% fell 0.2% to 4,987.33, while Germany’s DAX 30 index DAX, -0.06% lost 0.1% to 11,799.39, easing back from a record closing high logged on Wednesday.
Stocks in Europe were marked by a weaker-than-expected reading on U.S. retail data, showing sales dropped for a third straight month in February. The U.S. consumer is not just important for domestic companies, but also for European exporters. However, U.S. stock markets took the data in stride, as the poor reading pushes expectations for the rate increase later in the year, according to analysts.
Bucking the negative trend in Europe, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 index UKX, +0.59% picked up 0.6% to 6,761.07, boosted by the index’s drug makers.
