European shares fell on Tuesday, hit by worries about a hawkish European Central Bank and slowing economic growth, although a 15 percent surge in French power giant EDF on nationalization plans capped losses.
Technology stocks led the decline with a 1.7 percent drop after a Bloomberg report said Apple Inc planned to slow hiring and spending growth next year in some units to cope with a potential economic downturn.
Apple suppliers including STMicroelectronics , ams OSRAM and ASML fell between 1.3 percent and 2.8 percent.
"(The Apple warning) raised fears once again that a recession is fast approaching. This brought down tech shares generally and this negative sentiment has spilled over into other sectors," said Stuart Cole, a senior macro strategist at Equiti Capital.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.5 percent after rallying strongly in the previous two sessions.
Meanwhile, sources said ECB policymakers would discuss whether to raise interest rates by 25 or 50 basis points at their meeting on Thursday to tame record-high inflation.
The central bank had earlier signaled that it would hike rates by 25 bps this month, postponing a bigger move to September.
"It's a tough place for the ECB to be – it needs to materially tighten policy to fight inflation but at the same time needs a loose policy to support the dire fiscal positions in some of its member countries," said Cole.
The STOXX 600 has fallen about 15 percent this year as equities globally took a hit amid worries that monetary policy tightening would squeeze economic growth. With the conflict in Ukraine hurting energy supplies to Europe, the outlook looks bleak.
Shares of EDF jumped after the French government said it would offer 12 euros apiece to take full control of the power company in a buyout that gives it free hand to run the group as it contends amid the energy crisis.
In earnings-driven moves, drugmaker Novartis and London-listed money transfer company Wise Plc rose 0.7 percent and 12.8 percent, respectively.
Auto makers Volvo and Alstom fell despite positive earnings, as did telecoms operator Telenor. Swedish banking group Swedbank slipped 1.4 percent after reporting a smaller-than-expected net profit.
About 13 percent of the companies listed on the STOXX 600 have reported quarterly results so far in this earnings season, and 60 percent of them have topped estimates, according to Refinitiv data.