EU Stocks Declined Amidst Rising Inflation and Delta Variant

On Wednesday, June 30, EU stocks declined as investors worried about rising inflation and the surging of COVID-19 Delta variant cases.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.32% or 1.48 points at $454.89 per share.

The sectors of banks, energy, and mining led the losses between 0.60% and 1.0%.

This benchmark is about to record its biggest percentage gain in the first six months of a year since 1998.

However, the high inflation and the fast global spread of the highly contagious coronavirus Delta variant slowed its gains.

Furthermore, the Euro STOXX 50 also fell 0.74% with a net change of $30.30 sending the stocks to the bottom at $4,077.21 per share.

In addition, STOXX Europe 50 plummeted 0.28% or 24.21 points at $8,503.95 per share.

Later in the morning, investors will be focused on the readings of eurozone inflation data for June.

This is after the May inflation spiked past the European Central Bank goal of below but close to 2.00%.

An analyst said that an underlying print that stays under 2.00% may add trust to the ECB official’s outlook which is unlikely to start withdrawing the monetary policy support.

Meanwhile, Germany’s DAX and MDAX index both crashed 0.41% or 63.71 points at $15,626.86 and 0.69% or 237.78 points at $34,058.07, respectively.

This is due to the country’s unemployment rate which stood at 5.90% in June as analysts forecasted.

While the CAC 40 index of France also plunged 0.99% with a net loss of $64.91.

This sent the stocks to the ground at $6,502.52 per share.

Global Stocks Up

Even though the European shares fluctuated, the global stocks went up as Asia and the U.S. both rose on Wednesday.

The Nasdaq Composite hit its third record close gaining  0.19% or a net increase of $27.83.

This sent the stocks higher at $14,528.34 per share.

Consequently, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 both rose by 0.03% at $34,292.29 and $4,291.80, respectively.

While in Asia, China’s Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Component both climbed 0.50% at $3,591.20 and 0.51% at $52,812.59, respectively.

Moreover, the KOSPI of South Korea rallied 0.30% or 10.00 points at $3,296.68 while the S&P/ASX 200 of Australia progressed 0.16% or 11.80 points at $7,313.00.