BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks traded lower on Wednesday as ASML warned of increasing uncertainty around its outlook for 2025 and 2026 and Nvidia said it would incur $5.5 billion in charges due to new U.S. export controls.
Investors also looked ahead to the European Central Bank's policy meeting on Thursday, with markets widely expecting a 25-basis-point rate cut.
In economic releases, U.K. consumer price inflation weakened in March largely due to the fall in petrol prices, the Office for National Statistics said today.
Consumer prices registered an annual growth of 2.6 percent, slower than the 2.8 percent increase in February. Prices were forecast to climb 2.7 percent.
Core inflation that excludes prices of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, weakened to 3.4 percent, in line with expectations, from 3.5 percent in the previous month.
The pan European STOXX 600 was down 0.7 percent at 504.74 after climbing 1.6 percent on Tuesday.
The German DAX and France's CAC 40 both fell around 0.6 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.4 percent.
ASML Holding 5.3 percent, Infineon Technologies dropped 1.6 percent after the U.S. government imposed new export restrictions on Nvidia's H20 AI chips, requiring a license for shipments to China.
Heineken NV rallied 2.5 percent. The world's second largest brewer confirmed its annual outlook after reporting better-than-expected Q1 results.
Sartorius AG surged 4.5 percent. After posting better-than-expected Q1 results, the pharmaceutical equipment supplier said it aims to be more profitable in 2025.
Ipsen SA, a specialty-care biopharmaceutical company, fell 2.7 percent despite delivering strong sales in the first quarter of 2025 and confirming its full-year guidance.
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