By Sruthi Shankar and Shashwat Chauhan
(Reuters) -European stocks logged weekly losses despite gaining on Friday, as investors fretted over a worsening outlook for the economy and the trajectory of U.S. interest rates, while the focus shifts to central bank action next week.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index added 0.2%, snapping a seven-day losing streak, but declined 0.8% for the week.
Luxury heavyweight LVMH added 2.2%, its first gain in eight sessions, lifting the personal and household goods sector 1.1% higher.
Europe’s travel and leisure sector rose 1.4% after falling for the last three session.
Equity markets globally have come under pressure this week after upbeat U.S. economic data fuelled expectations of interest rates staying higher for longer, while weak data from Europe and China raised concerns about the health of the global economy.
Despite the weak data, inflation concerns and hawkish remarks from the European Central Bank policymakers have led money markets to increase their bets on a further rate hike in next week’s policy decision.
“If you listen to the senior officials at the ECB, to some extent they’re mimicking what the Fed has been saying for quite a while now … the future decisions are data dependent,” said Alan Kinnaird, business development manager at Walker Crips Investment Management.
“They always like to keep the markets guessing.”
Traders have priced in an around 40% chance of a 25-basis-point (bps) hike, up from 20% last week.
BofA Global Research said it expected the ECB to hike all three policy rates by 25 basis points at its Sept. 14 meeting.
Official data on Friday showed German inflation eased in August to 6.4%. Separately, Germany’s DIW economic research institute slightly lowered its 2023 forecast for the German economy on Friday due to a surprisingly weak second quarter.
U.S. inflation numbers are also due next week ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting later this month, with policymakers widely seen holding interest rates unchanged.
European banks bore the brunt of the selling pressure this week, falling over 2%, while the media sector was the best performing.
Computacenter jumped 15.3% after the IT service provider said its half-year adjusted profit before tax rose 8.8%.
Covestro’s supervisory board is meeting on Friday to discuss whether to hold formal negotiations with suitor Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) over the energy group’s takeover approach, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. Shares of the German firm jumped 7.8%.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Janane Venkatraman and Alison Williams)
