European stocks enter correction as coronavirus cases jump

Europe's STOXX 600 officially entered correction territory on Thursday as a jump in coronavirus cases outside China, especially in Europe, raised worries about a prolonged economic slowdown. Investors typically consider a correction in a security or index to be a drop of 10% or more from its recent peak.

The pan-European index has fallen more than 10% over the past week, a sudden plunge from the record high it set on February 19. Italian and German blue-chip indexes had tripped into a correction on Wednesday. "The sharp declines in equity markets in the last week have turned investor sentiment on its head in a fashion that is almost schizophrenic in nature," Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK said.