UPDATE 2-European shares retreat from record highs as financials, industrials tumble

European shares ​fell on Thursday, erasing earlier gains that pushed markets to record highs, as financial and industrial stocks tumbled and investors digested a flood of corporate earnings. The pan-European STOXX 600 index ‌finished 0.5% lower at 618.52 points, with most regional benchmarks also reversing course to close in negative territory.

European shares ​fell on Thursday, erasing earlier gains that pushed markets to record highs, as financial and industrial stocks tumbled and investors digested a flood of corporate earnings.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index ‌finished 0.5% lower at 618.52 points, with most regional benchmarks also reversing course to close in negative territory. Financials weighed heavily on the index, with the banking sub-index sliding 1.8%. HSBC and Banco Santander each dropped more than 2%, leading the sector's decline.

Industrial goods and services sub-index dropped 1.2% ‌with Dutch payments processor Adyen falling 21.9%, marking its steepest one-day fall in over two years, after cautious guidance. DSV, the ‌world's largest freight forwarder, posted its sharpest decline in roughly six years, sinking 10.5%.

Meanwhile, the European utilities index was down 0.4%, as it tracked a sharp slide in carbon prices after suggestions

the EU should intervene in the market, a move that investors fear could squeeze the sector's earnings. "I think utility companies are ⁠the obvious ​targets. It's going to hit margins ⁠and it also runs the risk of increasing inflationary pressures if those costs are passed on to the large energy consumers," said Nick Saunders, CEO of ⁠trading platform Webull UK.

LUXURY STOCKS UP Luxury stocks bucked the trend, rising 1.3% as France's Hermès touched a near one-month high following another quarter of

steady revenue ​growth , powered by robust sales in the U.S. and Japan.

On the M&A front, money manager Schroders shot up 28.6% ⁠after U.S. asset manager Nuveen agreed to buy the UK company for 9.9 billion pounds ($13.5 billion), creating a group with combined assets under management of nearly $2.5 trillion. Despite ⁠Thursday's ​sharp losses, the STOXX 600 remains up 4.4% year-to-date, having navigated headwinds including U.S.-Europe trade tensions over Greenland and recent selloffs in commodities and technology stocks.

Among other movers, Swedish biopharmaceutical firm Camurus slumped 24%, marking its biggest daily drop in over eight years, ⁠after reporting downbeat fourth-quarter revenue. French drugmaker Sanofi fell 4.2% after abruptly ousting its CEO, Paul Hudson, underscoring rising pressure from U.S. vaccine headwinds ⁠and a stalled turnaround since ⁠he took the reins in 2019.

Legrand shares rose 3% after the French electrical and digital building infrastructure group said strong data-centre demand was helping its expansion, supporting a slight increase in its medium-term profitability ‌targets.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)