European stock markets opened lower on Thursday. This follows a selloff that started overnight on Wall Street.

As a result of dismal economic statistics that sparked concerns about a possible recession this year, European stock markets opened lower on Thursday. This follows a selloff that started overnight on Wall Street.

After the announcement of negative U.S. production, retail sales, and producer pricing data revealed the U.S. economy, the primary global driver, was weakening, the Dow Jones closed more than 1.8% lower on Wednesday.

Stock prices have recently increased as a result of investors' expectations that the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank won't need to raise interest rates as quickly as they did last year as a result of lower inflation.

However, it seems that the growth of the biggest economy in the world has already been significantly impacted by these rate rises.

The ECB publishes the minutes of its most recent policy-setting meeting, and President Christine Lagarde is scheduled to speak later in the session. However, there isn't much in the way of European economic data expected for publication on Thursday.

The central bank will closely examine these incidents for any indications of potential future interest rate changes.

After making an initial minority interest purchase offer in ITA, the state-owned successor to Alitalia in Italy, Lufthansa is certain to garner attention in corporate news.

As the industry works to repair the harm the pandemic did, this action has generated discussion about additional potential sector mergers.

Oil prices dropped on Thursday as worries about demand in the largest economy in the world increased in response to disappointing U.S. economic data and an industry report revealing a sudden increase in U.S. oil stocks.

Fears of a recession this year were increased by data released on Wednesday showing a steep decrease in U.S. retail sales and manufacturing output.

The American Petroleum Institute also noted that the U.S. oil stockpiles increased by a sizable 7.6 million barrels last week.

If the official figures from the Energy Information Administration later this session are consistent with this, it would be the second week in a row with significant inventory rises.

(investing.com, reuters.com)