European Stocks Largely Higher; Hefty Shell Writedown Weighs on FTSE 100

European stock markets largely edged higher Thursday, rebounding after the previous session’s sharp losses on the aggressive stance by Federal Reserve policymakers, but the U.K. market underperformed with oil major Shell (LON:RDSa) lifting the cost of writing off its Russian assets.

By 3:50 AM ET (0750 GMT), the DAX in Germany traded 0.3% higher, the CAC 40 in France rose 0.4%, while U.K.’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.4%.

The major corporate news Thursday came from the much-watched oil sector, as U.K. energy giant Shell stated it will write down up to $5 billion following its decision to exit Russia, higher than previously disclosed.

The post-tax impairments of between $4 billion and $5 billion in the first quarter will not impact the company’s earnings, the company said in an update ahead of its earnings announcement on May 5. It had previously estimated the Russia write-downs would reach around $3.4 billion.

Shell’s stock fell 1.1%, dragging BP’s stock down 1.4% as the rival also has substantial interests in Russia to unwind. The losses of these two highly-weighted stocks resulted in the FTSE 100 index underperforming its European peers.

Elsewhere, the major European indices rebounded after posting sharp losses on Wednesday, weighed by the expectation the U.S. central bank is prepared to act more quickly to tighten the reins on the U.S. economy to contain rampant inflation.

Investors remain concerned the meatier interest rate hikes from the Fed down the line to combat inflation will severely cut growth in the world’s largest economy, and the major global driver.

Earlier this week, Deutsche Bank became the first big bank on Wall Street to call for a U.S. recession, predicting a downturn by the summer of 2023.

German industrial production rose 0.2% on the month in February, better than expected but still a hefty drop from the gain of 2.7% the previous month. Eyes will now turn to the release of Eurozone retail sales data for February.

Investors are also continuing to keep an eye on developments surrounding the war in Ukraine, after the United States announced new measures on Wednesday to punish Moscow, including sanctions on President Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters and Russia’s Sberbank, and a ban on Americans investing in Russia.

Oil prices rebounded Thursday after the previous session’s sharp losses on the news that a number of major consuming nations will release crude from emergency reserves to offset supply lost from Russia.

International Energy Agency member countries announced Wednesday that they would release 60 million barrels of oil, adding to the 180-million-barrel release announced by the United States last week.

Adding to Wednesday’s woes, data from the Energy Information Administration showing crude inventories rose by over 2 million barrels last week, the first climb in three weeks, raising questions about energy demand in the world’s largest oil-consuming country.

By 3:50 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.4% higher at $96.58 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 0.3% to $101.33. Both benchmarks settled more than 5% lower on Wednesday, falling to a three-week low.

Additionally, gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,926.30/oz, while EUR/USD edged higher to 1.0897.