European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde at a press conference after the governing council met in Athens on Thursday where it decided to hold rates.. Photograph: Aris Oikonomou/AFP
Ryanair shed 0.6 per cent to close the session at €14.27 per share, trending lower with the rest of the airline sector after disappointing trading updates from budget US carriers Spirit and Southwest.Ratcliffe’s pursuit of Manchester United poised to go to extra timeOther key stocks, including Paddy Power owner Flutter, also edged lower. Shares in the gambling giant sunk 3 per cent to €144.05 while other heavy hitters like Kingspan also came under pressure.
ECB policymakers kept its key interest rates unchanged on Thursday, following last month’s knife-edge decision to lift the rate. BNP Paribas saw a sizeable decline after reporting disappointing earnings. Advertising giant WPP also edged lower after slashing its outlook for revenue growth.The benchmark FTSE 100 dropped by almost 0.9 per cent while the mid-cap FTSE 250 declined 0.6 per cent amid gloomy earnings updates from some of the big British names.
The Dove soap maker’s shares fell 2.7 per cent, while the personal care, drug and grocery stores index lost 1.7 per cent to hit its lowest since mid-November last year.Following its worst rout of 2023, the Nasdaq 100 dropped about 1 per cent on Thursday. The slide also pushed the S&P 500 closer to a “correction”, with the gauge down more than 9 per cent from its July peak.United Parcel Service – an economic barometer – sank 5 per cent on a profit-target cut.