LONDON, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Major European stocks ended lower on Monday as high inflation continued to make headlines and fears kept growing of an economic slowdown.
The FTSE 100, the leading benchmark for United Kingdom-listed (UK) blue-chip companies, ended the session down 1.53 percent at 7,205.81 on Monday.
The FTSE fell 2.8 percent last week in its worst weekly performance since January, Fiona Cincotta, a market analyst for British financial services provider City Index, said.
"The downbeat mood continues as the new week begins, as data shows that the UK economy unexpectedly contracted in April," Cincotta said.
The UK's gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 0.3 percent in April after a 0.1 percent drop in March, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Monday.
Also on Monday, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) downgraded its GDP growth outlook significantly to 3.7 percent in 2022 from 5.1 percent previously, and said it expected inflation to rise to another peak at 7.8 percent in October.
It noted that high inflation is the primary source of weaker growth, as the result is a "historic squeeze" in household incomes.
"Let me be clear -- we're expecting the economy to be pretty much stagnant," CBI Director General Tony Danker said. "It won't take much to tip us into a recession. And even if we don't, it will feel like one for too many people."
The Paris CAC 40 benchmark French stock market index on Monday plunged 2.67 percent or 164.91 points to 6,022.32, and the German benchmark DAX index fell by 2.43 percent or 334.80 points to 13,427.03.
"Sentiment in Europe is very negative right now," Fawad Razaqzada, a market analyst for the City Index, commented.
"The negative sentiment in Europe is due to many reasons," Razaqzada said, adding it is made worse by the fact that the European Central Bank is "forced to raise interest rates" despite the conflict in Ukraine and a poor economy -- especially Germany.
The ECB said on Thursday it will increase its key interest rates by 0.25 percentage points at its July monetary policy meeting.
The bank expects inflation to increase to 6.8 percent in 2022 before easing to 3.5 percent in 2023 and 2.1 percent in 2024, which are above the March projections. ■