Global sell-off drives European stocks to three-month lows

(Reuters) – A sell-off in global risk assets drove European equities to near three-month lows on Thursday, as the absence of fresh stimulus for the U.S. economy and a second wave of coronavirus cases raised fears of a slowing global recovery.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index <.STOXX> fell 1.0% by 0711 GMT, hitting its lowest since June 26, while bourses in Frankfurt <.GDAXI>, London <.FTSE> and Paris <.FCHI> were down between 0.6% and 1.0%.

Wall Street indexes suffered sharp losses overnight, led by technology stocks after U.S. Federal Reserve officials called on more government aid from the Congress, while reinforcing their stance of loose monetary policy.

Meanwhile, France become the latest European country to reimpose curbs with the government unveiling a map of coronavirus “danger zones” and giving the hardest-hit local authorities days to tighten restrictions or risk having a state-of-health emergency declared there.

Growth-sensitive sectors such as travel <.SXTP> and oil & gas <.SXEP> fell about 2%, weighing on the markets. Tech stocks <.SX8P> also dropped 2%.

British cinema operator Cineworld slumped 16.5% as it swung to a loss and said it may have to raise more money if pushed to shut its theatres again due to government curbs on social gathering.

Online payments company Adyen fell 2.6% after it said co-founder Arnout Schuijff would step down from its management board as of Jan. 1.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)