#Europe Markets: European stocks track U.S. equity rout, with tech under pressure

Continued weakness in the U.S. dollar left the euro
EURUSD,
+0.10%
and British pound
GBPUSD,
+0.23%
higher by 0.1% each.

The Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-2.51%
finished down 2.5% on Thursday in a drubbing for Big Tech, as investors weighed up U.S. producer prices that showed a record 9.7% rise for 2021, on the heels of consumer prices earlier in the week that came in at the highest since the early 1980s annually.

“Rate-sensitive Nasdaq fell the most among the major U.S. indexes, as losses in the Dow Jones, which is believed to be better equipped to cope with higher rates, remained limited,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote.

U.S. stock futures
ES00,
+0.06%

YM00,
+0.11%

NQ00,
+0.01%
pointed to something of a rebound ahead though, with focus on the start of earnings season from big bank names such as Citigroup
C,
+0.74%,
JPMorgan
JPM,
-0.12%,
Wells Fargo
WFC,
-0.71%
and BlackRock
BLK,
-1.98%.
Investors will also get another batch of U.S. data, including retail sales.

In China, data showed the country’s trade surplus hitting a record high in 2021, rising 29.9% to a fresh high of $3.36 trillion, while imports surged 30.1%, lifted in part by soaring commodity prices. 

Among Europe’s big tech names, shares of ASM International
ASM,
-3.13%
dropped nearly 3%, along with ASML Holding
ASML,
-1.63%

ASML,
-2.72%,
while Infineon Technologies
IFX,
-0.72%
slipped 0.6%. German business software group SAP
SAP,
-3.03%

SAP,
+0.33%
bucked the weaker trend, with a gain of 1.7%.

EDF
EDF,
-21.62%
was the worst performer on the Stoxx Europe 600, as the French state-controlled utility late on Thursday pulled its guidance for the year, saying the government’s new moves to curb higher electricity bills will have an estimated impact of up to 8.4 billion euros ($9.62 billion).

Auto makers were among the gainers, with Volkswagen
VOW,
-0.14%,
Renault
RNO,
+1.14%
and Daimler Truck Holdings
DTG,
+0.85%
all rising by more than 2%.

Shares of health technology company Philips
PHG,
+2.87%

PHIA,
+2.98%
were also near the top of the gainers list, with a rise of more than 3%.