Peter Nurse 

Investing.com: European stock market fell sharply on Wednesday due to concerns about high inflation and rising energy prices, which could force central banks in Europe to tighten their monetary policies faster, slowing down recovery from the pandemic.

At 3:40 AM ET (0740 GMT), the in Germany traded 1.8% lower, the in France fell 1.7% and the U.K.’s dropped 1.3%.

The normally reliable indicator of the trends in Europe’s largest economy was hit hard by a 7.7% plunge in August. It is an abrupt slowdown after the July 4.9% gain. This slump is largely due to the important automotive sector which repeatedly raised concerns about its supply chain in this year’s recession. 

European investors were already receiving a weak handover in Asia. After increasing interest rates seven times in seven year, in an effort to keep inflation under control, the Asian central banks raised them again. It was a sign that further tightening was on its way. Romania was the most recent emerging country in Europe to raise interest rates on Tuesday, and Poland will likely follow on Thursday.

U.K. energy prices continue to be a headache for industry. They have reached a record high of 330pence a therm or 97 Euros a megawatt hour. 

Oil traded at highs for many years amid concerns over global energy supplies, especially after the so called OPEC+ bloc decided not to accelerate a pre-agreed rate of production increases. 

Futures were trading 0.4% higher at $79.28 per barrel by 3:40 am ET. This was after the contract had climbed to its highest point since November 2014, when it reached $79,28. Following a rise to $33 million in the previous session, the contract rose by 2% to $82.91.

Tesco (OTC) stock surged 4.8% in corporate news after U.K. supermarket chain reported an 16.6% increase of core retail profit for its first half. Also, it announced a share-buyback with 500 million shares due to be purchased by October 2022. 

Bayer  (DE:) outperformed, holding steady after a judge ruled that its Roundup weedkiller wasn’t the cause of a boy’s rare form of cancer – a welcome win in a series of largely unsuccesful legal battles over the product. 

The stock of Tui (DE) fell 0.9% following a statement by the travel company that it will raise 1.1 million euros ($1.27billion) equity capital to pay off its pandemic debt.

The price fell 0.6% to $1749.65/oz and traded 0.2% higher at 1.1574