(Bloomberg) -- European stocks fell as traders pared back expectations for an interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve in December after cautious comments from Chair Jerome Powell.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was 0.8% lower by 8:07 a.m. in London, giving back much of Thursday’s rebound as it declined for the third day this week. Healthcare and technology stocks led Friday’s retreat.
In individual stocks, Sanofi SA was among European vaccine makers in decline after US President-elect Donald Trump said he’s tapping prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health secretary. Evotec SE soared after attracting takeover interest from Nasdaq-listed biotech firm Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. for a deal that would value the German drug developer at €2 billion ($2.1 billion).
European equities have been under pressure since Trump won the race to the White House last week, with his so-called America-first policies, including hefty trade tariffs, widely expected to hurt markets outside the US.
Stronger data from China should help European carmakers, luxury and other exporters Friday, but “the rest of the market seems to focus mostly on the macro picture, which is not as good as it was a couple of weeks ago,” according to Joachim Klement, head of strategy, economics and ESG at Panmure Liberum.
“Markets are slowly coming to terms with the fact that inflation pressures remain high in the US and Europe and that the incoming US administration may put additional fuel on the embers,” added Klement.
Meanwhile, the UK economy cooled faster than expected in the third quarter, marking a disappointing start to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s promise to turbocharge growth.
Investors will keep an eye on US retail sales, due later on Friday. These likely saw another month of solid gains in October, with higher car sales boosting the headline, according to Bloomberg Economics.
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