European shares rise after two-day decline

By Susan Mathew and Bansari Mayur Kamdar

(Reuters) -European shares bounced on Thursday, led by industrial and luxury names, with gains limited by lingering worries over slowing economic growth and rising prices.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.6% after losing nearly 2% over the last two sessions.

Volumes are expected to be subdued as London markets are closed for Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee bank holidays.

French spirits group Remy Cointreau climbed 4.9% on beating full-year profit estimates and providing an upbeat outlook for this year and beyond.

Other luxury stocks followed suit. LVMH, L’Oreal and EssilorLuxottica were up between 1.7% and 3.1%, providing the biggest boosts to the index.

Oil stocks edged lower even as crude prices erased earlier losses after OPEC+ agreed to boost crude output to compensate for a drop in Russian production. Shell’s Amsterdam listing and Equinor declined 0.5% and 1.9% respectively.[O/R]

Data showed Euro zone producer prices rose 1.2% from the previous month in April, below economists’ expectations of 2.3% rise. This followed data earlier this week that showed consumer prices in the region rose to a record high.

Government bond yields jumped to multi-year highs as inflation data this week boosted expectations that the European Central Bank might accelerate its tightening path.

“The interest rate expectations are moving quite fast,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.

“We have seen that this week, the inflation numbers in Germany and the Euro zone came significantly higher than expected. So that’s having an extremely hawkish impact on the central bank expectations to the point that in July meeting some analysts are actually pencilling in even a 50 basis point hike.”

Swiss consumer price data on Thursday showed inflation increased by the highest level in 14 years during May.

In the U.S., private payrolls increased far less than expected in May, which would suggest demand for labour was starting to slow amid higher interest rates and tightening financial conditions, though job openings remained extremely high.

Investors eyed non-farm payrolls data on Friday that could decide how stocks will end this week as investors fret over the pace of monetary policy tightening by the central bank.

Markets have been gripped by slowing growth worries as global central banks scramble to tame surging inflation without tipping economies into recession. The STOXX 600 is on course to end the week about 0.6% lower.

Among other stocks, Scandinavian airline SAS firmed 1.3% on a report that a group of foreign investors is exploring a takeover.

(Reporting by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)