European stocks fell on Friday, after comments from several US central bank officials stoked concerns about the impact of tighter monetary conditions, while SAP reported strong quarterly earnings for its business in Cloud.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.7%, adding to the weakness of other world markets due to the nervousness caused by the fact that the governor of the Federal Reserve, Lael Brainard, added fuel to the monetary fire by indicating that the rates will rise in March to combat inflation.
All sectors were in the red, with technology stocks among the hardest hit, down 1.3%, while banking stocks were among the least affected.
German enterprise software giant SAP rose 1.9%, and was one of the best-performing stocks in the STOXX 600, after saying fourth-quarter revenue from its cloud computing business rose 28%.
Europe’s third-largest insurer, Assicurazioni Generali, fell 0.6% after announcing that director Francesco Caltagirone had resigned from the board of directors amid a fight between major investors.
Silicon specialist Wacker Chemie rose 3.8% after saying 2021 earnings were above its own target range and beat analysts’ expectations.
Energy group EDF slumped 23.4% after France ordered the state-controlled company to sell more of its cheap nuclear power to smaller competitors to limit rising electricity prices in the country.