European Shares Edge Lower As Israel Retaliates Against Iran

European stocks fell notably on Friday as tensions soared in the Middle East in the aftermath of Israel's retaliatory strikes against Iran.

Also, hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials led investors to scale back their expectations for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates this year.

Most market participants believe that the U.S. central bank will wait until September to cut its key interest rate.

In economic releases, Germany's producer prices continued to decline in March, though at the slowest pace in nine months, data published by Destatis showed.

Producer prices registered an annual decrease of 2.9 percent after declining 4.1 percent in January. Prices have been falling since July 2023.

Elsewhere, U.K. retail sales came in unchanged on a month-on-month basis in March, defying expectations for a gain.

Retail sales including automotive fuel grew 0.1 percent in the previous month, according to preliminary data from the Office for National Statistics. Economists were looking for a 0.3 percent gain for March.

This was the weakest outcome since December, when sales shrunk 3.5 percent.

The pan European STOXX 600 dropped 0.7 percent to 496.10 after closing up 0.2 percent on Thursday.

The German DAX fell 0.9 percent, France's CAC 40 shed 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.7 percent.

Sodexo SA, a food services and facilities management firm, rose 1.3 percent as it posted a net loss for the first half, mainly due to a higher loss from discontinued operations.

The company said it expects 2024 organic revenue growth at the top of its 6-8 percent range.

Schneider Electric SA, a digital automation and energy management firm, was down 2.4 percent.

The company confirmed that it has been engaged in preliminary talks on a potential deal with Bentley Systems Inc. (BSY), an American software company.

Man Group shares slumped 5 percent. The British investment management firm reported $1.6 billion of outflows from its funds during the first three months of the year.

Gambling group 888 Holdings rallied 3 percent after backing its full-year targets.

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