On Thursday, the key European indices declined steadily by more than 2% amid the negative trends in the US stock exchanges.

Consequently, the STOXX Europe 600 composite index of Europe's leading companies fell by 2.07% to 424.97 points by the time of writing the article. The French CAC 40 was down 2.05%, the German DAX dropped by 2.02% and the British FTSE 100 decreased by 2.31%.

Shares of technological companies show record losses among the components of the European stock indicators on Thursday as the increase in interest rates by the world central banks poses a serious threat to their future earnings.

The stocks of German software maker SAP SE are down 1.7%

The quotes of Swiss microelectronics company STMicroelectronics are falling by 1.1%.

The shares of French consulting company Capgemini SE are dropping by 2.8%.

The market capitalization of the British low-cost airline EasyJet Plc fell by 0.8% amid the recently published corporate report. The company cut its pre-tax loss in the first fiscal half of the year due to an increase in revenue. However, it reported that rising fuel prices would increase its costs in the next fiscal half-year period.

The shares of UK largest postal operator Royal Mail Plc are down 12%. According to the company's report, its pretax profit sank 8.8% for the fiscal year that ended on March 27 . At the same time, the operating profit rose by 8%. However, it was worse than economists forecasted. Royal Mail's quarterly revenue increased by less than 1% and also was not in line with analysts' expectations.

The shares of British repair services company HomeServe Plc soared by 10.5%. The day before, HomeServe Plc accepted a purchase offer from Canadian multinational alternative investment management company Brookfield Asset Management Inc.

The stocks of Italian industrial goods maker CNH Industrial went down 3.2%.

The market value of the Italian automobile company Iveco Group also fell by 3.2%. Moreover, the shares of the automobile concern Stellantis N.V. declined by 2.7% by the moment of writing the article.

The main reason for today's negative dynamics of European stock markets was the decline of over 3% in indexes of leading US exchanges on Wednesday.

Moreover, market participants are deeply concerned about the decline in economic growth and the permanent rise of inflation rate. Thus, according to the official data published the day before, the annual inflation rate in the euro area is at 7.4%. Consumer prices in the UK rose by 9% in annual terms, a record high in the last forty years.

European investors are trying to avoid risks amid fears of a sharp weakening of the global economy. Proactive stance of the US Federal Reserve in the field of monetary policy as well as growing influence of high inflation on corporate profits of leading European companies make traders act with extreme caution.