European Stock Markets Fall as Dollar Slips Against Euro

By Investors Hub

European stocks have moved mostly lower on Wednesday as the dollar has slipped versus the euro amid persisting worries about a global trade war.

China issued a list of 106 U.S. products that will be subject to additional tariffs in response to U.S. President Donald Trump?s plans to slap tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods.

While the German DAX Index has slumped by 1.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.9 percent and the U.K.?s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.5 percent.

Steinhoff International Holdings NV has slumped. While reviewing the value of its assets following an accounting scandal, the embattled retailer said that a European real estate portfolio may be worth about half previous estimates.

LafargeHolcim has also moved lower after the company announced that Thomas Schmidheiny, who owns 11.4 percent of the Franco-Swiss firm, has decided not to stand for re-election as a board director at the company’s upcoming AGM.

WPP has moved to the downside after the British advertising group said it is investigating allegations of personal misconduct against its chief executive Martin Sorrell.

In economic news, Eurozone inflation accelerated in March, largely on food prices, flash data from Eurostat showed. Inflation rose to 1.4 percent in March from 1.1 percent in February, staying below the European Central Bank’s target of ?below, but close to 2 percent.?

Another report showed that the euro area unemployment rate declined in February to the lowest since late 2008. The jobless rate fell to 8.5 percent in February from 8.6 percent in January. This was the lowest since December 2008 and in line with expectations.

U.K. construction activity unexpectedly contracted in March following five months of marginal growth, survey data from IHS Markit showed.