Jan 12 (Reuters) – European shares dipped on Monday as tensions between the U.S. administration and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell turned global markets cautious, and President Donald Trump’s call for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates weighed on banks.
The pan-European STOXX 600 slipped 0.2% by 0807 GMT. Banks were the biggest drag on the index, dropping 1.1%.
Barclays fell 4.5%, hitting its lowest in nearly a month, and HSBC dropped about 1%.
On Friday, Trump called for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates at 10%, starting on January 20, but did not provide details.
Investors also fled to safe-haven assets after Trump’s officials threatened to indict Powell over comments to Congress about a building renovation project. Powell said it was an attempt to influence interest rates.
Meanwhile, AstraZeneca dropped nearly 1% after losing its spot in the Nasdaq-100 index.
French biotech Abivax surged 22.8%. In an interview with Bloomberg News, Abivax CEO Marc de Garidel said major pharmaceutical companies cannot ignore the potential of his company’s experimental inflammatory bowel disease drug.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
