The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 1.3% to its lowest since December 20, and the London, Paris and Frankfurt stock markets fell between 0.8% and 1.5%.
Technology stocks led losses, shedding 2.3% to their lowest since October, after Wall Street was hit last week by prospects of interest rate hikes.
Analysts highlighted investors’ reluctance to return to investing in equities, something that had not been seen in the post-2008 era of ultra-low rates and central bank-driven liquidity.
“Ukraine is really in the spotlight right now,” said Michael Hewson of CMC Markets. “Over the last 12 years, the mindset of investors has been to buy short in general. This is the first time in the last 12 years that I feel like that’s not the default position.”
MSCI’s broader index of Asia-Pacific stocks excluding Japan fell 0.7% and Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.1%. Still, Wall Street seemed on track to rise after last week’s setback, with futures on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rising 0.3%.
MSCI’s global measure of shares, which includes equities from 50 countries, was down 0.3%.
Oil prices reversed trend and fell, after rising for five straight weeks to hit a seven-year high.
Nerves over the Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday added to the mix. The US central bank is expected to confirm that it will soon start draining the massive pool of liquidity that has supercharged growth stocks in recent years.
Although Treasuries rallied late last week, the 10-year yield is still up 22 basis points so far this month to 1.77% and is not far off the levels last seen in early 2020.
That rise has generally supported the dollar, which rose 0.5% last week and gained 0.1% in the session, to 85.647 units.
Bitcoin fell as much as 7% on the day, to a multi-month high below $34,000. The cryptocurrency has lost nearly half its value since hitting an all-time high of $69,000 in November.
Source From: Ambito
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