At the end of Friday’s trading session, European stock indices fell following remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who expressed uncertainty regarding the Fed’s efforts to control inflation.
The European Stoxx 600 index ended the day with a 1% decline. The food and beverage stocks suffered the most, closing the session with a 3.1% loss. All sectors ended in the negative except for the oil and gas sector, which saw a rise of 0.4%.
Yesterday, Powell stated that he and his colleagues were optimistic about the recent deceleration in inflation rates. However, they still need to determine whether their monetary policy strategy is sufficiently controlled to eventually decrease inflation to 2%.
Last week, the Federal Reserve, Bank of England, and European Central Bank maintained interest rates.
