European equities slumped on Thursday, dragged lower by another sharp spike in key energy prices and increasingly hawkish signals from major regional central banks. The Eurozone’s STOXX 50 and the broader pan-European benchmark both lost more than 2.5%, slipping below 5,600 and 583 points, respectively.
European natural gas and power prices surged after Iran struck energy infrastructure in Qatar and Saudi Arabia overnight, prompting Washington to threaten Iranian gas fields in response. The renewed jump in energy costs led the ECB to leave interest rates unchanged but revise its inflation projections higher, in line with the more hawkish tone from the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank, which also kept rates on hold.
Banking stocks were hit hard as higher inflation expectations weighed on sovereign bond markets, with UniCredit, ING, Santander, and Intesa Sanpaolo all dropping more than 4%. Industrials also came under pressure, with Schneider Electric and Airbus sliding about 4.5%. Meanwhile, Prosus and Infineon tumbled roughly 5% and 7%, respectively, amid a broad global pullback in AI-related names.