LONDON — European stocks slumped on Thursday as the Iran war escalated further following attacks on Iranian and Qatari energy infrastructure.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down more than 2% as of 10:25 a.m. in London (6:25 a.m. ET), with all major bourses in negative territory and all sectors except for oil and gas trading lower.
| .FCHI | CAC 40 Index | 7,830.11 | -139.77 | -1.75% |
| .FTMIB | FTSE MIB | 43,657.04 | -1,084.30 | -2.42% |
| .FTSE | FTSE 100 | 10,077.35 | -227.94 | -2.21% |
| .GDAXI | DAX GR EUR INDEX | 22,908.04 | -594.21 | -2.53% |
| .IBEX | IBEX 35 Idx | 16,883.40 | -415.70 | -2.40% |
| .STOXX | STOXX Europe 600 | 584.85 | -13.08 | -2.19% |
Miners led losses, with the Stoxx Europe Basic Resources sector last seen trading down 4.5%. This followed a sharp sell-off in the spot price of gold and silver, which fell 2.8% and 5.3% respectively.
FTSE 100-listed mining giants Antofagastaand Fresnillowere down 6.6% and 7.4%, respectively, as heightened inflation fears and rising energy prices affect producers’ margins.
All other sectors were in the red during early trade, including banks and travel stocks.
Norwegian oil giant Equinor bucked the wider trend, rising 7.4% in morning trade after reporting its annual earnings. The company generated $27.6 billion of operating income, with increases in equity production of liquids and gas, and renewable power. Equinor said Wednesday it had discovered a large oil field near the Arctic Circle, estimated to yield between 14 and 24 million barrels.
A significant escalation in the conflict came Wednesday when Israel launched strikes on Iran’s South Pars gas field, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory missile attacks on Qatar’s Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas terminal.
U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Wednesday that if Iran continued targeting Qatar’s energy facilities, America would “massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field.” Oil prices jumped once again overnight following the strikes and comments.
European market attention is also turning to central bank action in the region today. Sweden’s Riksbank held its key rate at 1.75%, while the Swiss National Bank held at 0.0%.
