LONDON: Europe’s stock markets opened lower Wednesday in a global sell-off after robust US employment data and rising Treasury yields stoked fears of higher-for-longer interest rates.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index dipped 0.3 percent to 7,446.75 points, compared with the closing level on Tuesday.
In the eurozone, Frankfurt’s DAX index fell 0.7 percent to slip under the 15,000-point mark for the first time since March and the Paris CAC 40 shed 0.5 percent to 6,963.47.
Asian equities also sank across the board following sharp losses on Wall Street.
“Chill winds of worry are swirling about high interest rates settling in and there is set to be little respite from the sell-off,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown.
“This fresh bout of anxiety has been prompted by new jobs data in the US indicating that vacancies unexpectedly jumped in August.”
The labour report, known as JOLTS, showed a surprise increase in the number of job openings to 9.6 million, a sign of continued tightness in the market and fuelling worries of a further rate hike by the Federal Reserve before year’s end.
Following the JOLTS report, 10-year US Treasury note yields climbed to levels last seen in 2007.
The report comes ahead of Friday’s highly anticipated September US employment numbers.
“This has added to worries about labour market tightness, and led to expectations that not only will there be another interest rate hike, to try and dampen down demand in the economy, but that any prospect for rate cuts has been pushed further into the distance,” added Streeter.
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