European Stocks Close Lower Tuesday as Middle East Tensions, France Unrest Weigh on Sentiment

European markets closed lower Tuesday despite a mid-afternoon recovery, as civil unrest in France and Italy, elevated oil prices and AI-valuation concerns weighed on sentiment. The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell 0.14%, the UK's FTSE 100 lost 0.29%, Germany's DAX slipped 0.06% and France's CAC 40 dropped 0.38%. Switzerland's SMI bucked the trend, gaining 0.76%. Brent crude front-month futures climbed to $111.99 a barrel on Houthi attacks on Saudi infrastructure and reports of vessel attacks in the Gulf, before retreating to about $107. German producer prices rose 6.7% year-on-year in September, the fastest pace since March 2023, while eurozone current account surplus fell to 7.7 billion euros from 18.1 billion a year earlier. In the UK, Bunzl fell nearly 3% despite higher third-quarter revenue, and Diploma dropped about 4%. Germany's Qiagen rose nearly 4% and E.ON gained 2.9%. France's Sanofi surged 3.7%, while Schneider Electric and Legrand fell 3.3% and 3%, respectively.