European Shares Slide On Growth, Interest-rate Concerns

European stocks were flat to slightly lower on Tuesday as concerns about inflation and slowing growth weighed on sentiment.

Interest-rate concerns returned to the fore after the Reserve Bank of Australia unexpectedly raised rates again by 25 basis points and kept the door open to further hikes, saying inflation still remained too high.

In economic releases, Eurostat reported that retail sales in the euro zone flatlined in April. Retail sales came in at 0 percent month-month-in April versus 0.2 percent expected.

Data from the British Retail Consortium showed British retail sales growth slowed to a seven-month low in May as a result of rising food costs.

Elsewhere, Germany’s manufacturing orders decreased further in April, but the fall was less severe than expected.

Factory orders fell a seasonally and calendar adjusted 0.4 percent month-on-month, preliminary data from the statistical office Destatis showed. That was much less severe than the 2.2 percent slump economists had forecast.

The pan European STOXX 600 was marginally lower at 459.56 after losing half a percent on Monday.

The German DAX slipped 0.2 percent and France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.3 percent while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down half a percent.

N Brown Group plunged 15 percent after it swung to a pre-tax loss in the fiscal 2023 in a “challenging” market.

Paragon Banking Group surged 8.5 percent after upgrading its FY23 guidance and launching a second 50.0-million-pound ($62.2 million) share buyback program for the year.

British American Tobacco edged down slightly despite backing its annual outlook.

Primark owner Associated British Foods was also moving lower after it agreed to buy dairy technology firm National Milk Records for £48m.

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