European stock markets fall on uncertainty over Fed and bank failures

March 10 (Reuters) – European shares fell to their lowest level in more than a month on Friday as uncertainty over U.S. monetary policy gripped investors, compounded by a sharp drop in bank stocks, which fell 4.5% after a warning from a US bank that fueled concerns over tensions in the sector.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 1.3%, with HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, Unicredit and Commerzbank falling between 4.9% and 6.7%.

The European banking index hit a six-week low after U.S. technology bank SVB Financial Group launched a stock sale to strengthen its balance sheet, due to falling deposits from ‘startups’ (newly-established companies). created), which are facing a shortage of venture capital funding.

For the rest, the focus will be on the US non-farm payroll data which will be published during the session, after the volatility caused by the sharp rise in jobless claims and the fall in Wall Bank shares. Street, who moderate bets that the Federal Reserve may have to raise interest rates sharply this month.

US payrolls data for February, due at 1.30pm GMT, is expected to show an increase of 205,000 jobs, after a whopping 517,000 in January. Any upside surprises would reinforce bets for aggressive interest rate hikes.

(Reporting by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu; Editing in Spanish by Dario Fernandez)