European stocks fell on Thursday, feeling the pressure of a wild day on Wall Street, in which major funds took positions on the table, so as not to be burned by a gang of retail investors who punish missing sellers.
Wednesday, down 1.2%, Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP,
traded 1% lower. Manufacturer of microchip equipment ASML Holding ASML,
a component of the Nasdaq-100, low in trade in Amsterdam, and the drug company Roche ROG,
fell into the Zurich action.
US YM00 futures,
NQ00,
pointed to declines again on Thursday, though not as steep as 633 points for DJIA Dow Jones Industrial Average,
Wednesday. US markets were also absorbing cautious comments from social media giant Facebook and poorer-than-expected results from electric vehicle maker Tesla.
The background to market losses is the remarkable gains for a group of shares on which many hedge funds have bet.
“There was no clear catalyst behind the fall in stocks, but market talks suggest it could have been due to hedge funds with short positions in GameStop and other memes that closed long positions in other stocks to cover their losses, following the frantic rally in the former group. The slowdown in COVID vaccinations in Europe and the US could also have influenced market sentiment. In addition, Wall Street accelerated its downturn following the FOMC [Federal Open Market Committee] decision, ”said Charalambos Pissouros, senior market analyst at JFD Group.
There was already an active premarket transaction for GameStop GME,
AMC Entertainment AMC,
and BlackBerry BB,
again on Thursday.
Nokia NOKIA,
ENOUGH,
the only European company that is supported on the Reddit WallStreetBets forum, partly due to its dual list in the US, fell 2% less in Helsinki, after a 14% increase in the previous session. The telecommunications equipment maker issued a statement on Wednesday saying it had no significant explanation for the sharp rise in its stock.
Conglomerate of alcoholic beverages Diageo DGE,
DEO,
increased by 4%, helped by a 1% increase in organic sales in the first half of the fiscal year. Diageo also raised its interim dividend by 2% and said it expects a sequential improvement in the second half.
Actions of the Prudential PRU insurer,
PUK,
2378,
fell 7% as it said it weighs in on a $ 2.5 billion to $ 3 billion capital offering to take advantage of growth opportunities in Asia, while also saying it will separate its Jackson arm US National on a New York Stock Exchange listed company. Prudential previously weighed in on an initial Jackson National public offering.