European Shares Drop 1% After Signs of US Monetary Tightening

European shares fell more than 1% on Thursday, after indications from the minutes of the Federal Reserve meeting (the US central bank) of the tendency to tighten monetary policy, which dampened the morale of investors around the world and led to turmoil in technology shares.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 1.2 percent, to lose all the gains it had recorded since the beginning of the year, which had hit a record level.

The minutes of the US central bank meeting on Wednesday revealed that the limited labor market and the high rate of core inflation may call for raising the interest rate earlier than expected and starting to reduce the total holdings of assets.

All European sectors declined and the technology and media sectors were among the top losers in early trade, both down more than two percent.