European shares retreat from record highs as financials, industrials tumble

Published Fri, Feb 13, 2026 · 05:55 AM

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 per cent 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 per cent. HSBC and Banco Santander each dropped more than 2 per cent, leading the sector’s decline.

Industrial goods and services sub-index dropped 1.2 per cent with Dutch payments processor Adyen falling 21.9 per cent, 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 per cent.

Meanwhile, the European utilities index was down 0.4 per cent, 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 per cent as France’s Hermes 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 per cent after US asset manager Nuveen agreed to buy the UK company for £9.9 billion (S$17 billion), creating a group with combined assets under management of nearly US$2.5 trillion.

Despite Thursday’s sharp losses, the Stoxx 600 remains up 4.4 per cent year-to-date, having navigated headwinds including US-Europe trade tensions over Greenland and recent selloffs in commodities and technology stocks.

Among other movers, Swedish biopharmaceutical firm Camurus slumped 24 per cent, marking its biggest daily drop in over eight years, after reporting downbeat fourth-quarter revenue.

French drugmaker Sanofi fell 4.2 per cent after abruptly ousting its CEO, Paul Hudson, underscoring rising pressure from US vaccine headwinds and a stalled turnaround since he took the reins in 2019.

Legrand shares rose 3 per cent 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. REUTERS