Europe: Stocks Close Sharply Lower.

European stocks closed sharply lower on Thursday, tracking the pullback in North American equities and extending their volatile momentum as the war in the Middle East further threatened the European economy. The Eurozone's STOXX 50 dropped 1.7% to 5,771 and the pan-European STOXX 600 fell 1.4% to 604. Strikes between Iran and Israel showed no sign of de-escalation, while the former continued to attack energy, transportation, and civilian infrastructure across GCC states to extend the surge in energy costs. The surge in natural gas prices particularly impacted European benchmarks, lifting bond yields and triggering a fresh plunge in banking stocks with Santander, UniCredit, and Deutsche Bank losing close to 3%. The outlook of higher power prices also pressured industrial giants with Siemens and Safran losing more than 3%, while DHL sank 4.6% on container ships bottlenecks in the Strait of Hormuz.