By Shashwat Chauhan and Amir Orusov
(Reuters) -European shares fell on Thursday, with med-tech stocks down after news of the U.S opening new import-related probes, while focus was on comments from Federal Reserve officials and data to assess the U.S. central bank’s policy path.
The pan-European STOXX 600 shed 0.2% to trade at 552.7 points, as of 0830 GMT. Most regional bourses also ticked lower, with German <.GDAXI> and French blue-chips down about 0.3% each.
Healthcare stocks dropped 1%, with German medical technology company Siemens Healthineers sliding 4.3% after the U.S. Commerce Department said it has opened new national security investigations into the import of personal protective equipment, medical items, robotics, and industrial machinery.
Danish medical equipment maker Coloplast dropped 3.4% and Dutch med-tech company Philips also shed 2.7%.
Construction and materials was also among the top declining sub-sectors, down 1.2%, while industrial goods and services shed 0.6%.
Among gainers, Sweden’s H&M jumped 9% after the fashion retailer reported a substantially bigger rise than expected in its third-quarter profit.
European miners advanced 1.8%, tracking surging copper prices with Shanghai copper hitting a six-month high.
Including Thursday’s moves, the pan-European STOXX 600 was last up nearly 9% so far for the year, trailing a near 13% gain in the U.S. S&P 500.
European shares had a solid start to the year on the back of firm gains in defence companies, but have since lagged as an unrelenting rally driven by AI optimism has boosted Wall Street to record highs this month.
The STOXX index meanwhile, sits more than 2% away from its record highs last seen in March.
Later in the day, at least seven Fed officials are set to make public remarks, while a reading of U.S. second-quarter GDP and weekly jobless claims would also be on investors’ radars.
“Post the most recent Fed moves, the market has coalesced around a central scenario of no recession and I think that view also holds in Europe,” said Ben Lambert, European Equities portfolio manager at Ninety One.
The Fed cut its main lending rate for the first time in 2025 this month, while the European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged.
Switzerland’s central bank also kept its interest rate at zero, warning that U.S. tariffs had dimmed the outlook for the Swiss economy going into 2026.
A crucial inflation report out of the U.S. is due on Friday.
(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru and Amir Orusov in Gdansk; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
