Technology, travel and retail shares fuelled declines in European stocks on Wednesday as soaring oil and gas prices intensified concerns about higher inflation denting economic growth. After a late-session rally on Tuesday, the pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 1.7 percent, with travel & leisure and tech stocks tumbling more than 2 percent. Banks slipped 0.6 percent, but were the smallest decliners on prospects of higher interest rates as U.S. and European government bond yields climbed and oil prices hit multi-year highs. Dutch and British wholesale gas prices surged to record highs on Tuesday amid wider energy market price hikes. “It’s (gas prices) really soaring at the moment and the question is whether central banks are going to act on this from an inflation perspective, which is set to go higher, or from a growth perspective, which is set to go lower,” said Bert Colijn, senior economist at ING. “We’re not …
RSS Feed | The Epoch Times