European markets set to drop sharply at the open following U.S. sell-off
European stocks are expected to open sharply lower on Thursday following losses stateside Wednesday that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average notching its first decline of 2022.
The U.K.’s FTSE index is seen opening 114 points lower at 7,391, Germany’s DAX down 285 points at 15,986, France’s CAC 40 down 141 points at 7,235 and Italy’s FTSE MIB 506 points lower at 27,448, according to data from IG.
European markets are set to follow their Asia-Pacific counterparts lower Thursday, following losses in the U.S. during Wednesday’s trading session.
The declines came after minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s December meeting showed officials are ready to aggressively dial back the central bank’s pandemic-era easy monetary policy.
The Fed’s plan to reduce the number of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities it holds comes as it is already tapering its bond purchases and is set to hike interest rates after the taper concludes.
Major indexes on Wall Street fell sharply following the release of the minutes, with the S&P 500 dropping 1.94% to 4,700.58. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 392.54 points to 36,407.11 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite plunged 3.34% to 15,100.17. U.S. stock futures were muted in overnight trading Wednesday.
Data releases in Europe on Thursday include German industrial orders for November and euro zone producer prices for the same month.
