Traders working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The benchmark S&P 500 and the Dow were muted in early trading on Thursday. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
The ECB maintained interest rates at record high as expected, but signalled it may soon start to cut them, although investors questioned whether stubborn US inflation rates would stop the Federal Reserve from following close behind.The Iseq index closed 1.6 per cent lower as bank stocks declined in line with the trend across Europe after the ECB hinted at interest rate cuts from June.was also a drag on the index, easing back 3.3 per cent to €20.84, having advanced 1.
The indexes of top economies in the euro zone such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain were also down between 0.3 per cent to 1.2 per cent.Equities were also dented by higher euro zone bond yields as expectations for a higher-for-longer scenario for US interest rates more than offset the ECB’s remarks.climbed 4.6 per cent after the Danish maker of single-use endoscopy solutions hiked its full-year outlook and posted preliminary second-quarter financials.dropped 2.