European shares inch lower amid oil ructions and Middle East conflict in Stock News 11/03/2026 European stocks edged lower on Wednesday, as investors eyed a report of the release of fresh oil supply and gauged ongoing developments in the conflict in Iran. By 04:00 ET (08:00 GMT), the pan-European Stoxx 600 had slipped by 0.5%, the Dax in Germany had declined by 1.0%, the CAC 40 in France had dropped by 0.9%, and the FTSE 100 in the U.K. had fallen by 0.6%. Shares in the region were provided a steady handover from stocks in Asia, where traders were reacting to a Wall Street Journal report that the International Energy Agency was proposing its largest-ever release of oil reserves to help put a lid on oil prices. The report offered some relief to markets which have been battered by a wild ructions in crude prices, with the global Brent benchmark now hovering around $90 a barrel after having risen to nearly $120 earlier this week. At 04:04 ET, Brent crude futures had climbed by 2.2% to $89.75 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures had increased by 2.2% to $85.33 per barrel. Yet the fighting in Iran has continued to rage on. The U.S. and Israel exchanged air strikes with Iran across the Middle East on Wednesday, while Tehran’s state security forces suggested that they were ready to clamp down on any internal dissent. Global markets have been wagering that U.S. President Donald Trump will opt to bring the assault to a quick conclusion, although Trump has threatened to strike Iran should Tehran attempt to block oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world’s crude passes. Beyond the conflict, investors in Europe were assessing new inflation data out of Germany, which showed that harmonized consumer price growth accelerated as anticipated month-on-month in February. Inflation figures out of the U.S. later in the session will also likely factor into sentiment. Economists have predicted that headline consumer prices will rise by 2.4% in the twelve months to February and 0.3% month-on-month. Source: Investing.com 2026-03-11 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.src = url; js.id = id; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }; load('//connect.facebook.net/en/all.js#xfbml=1', 'fbjssdk'); load('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'gplus1js'); load('//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js', 'tweetjs'); } if (w.addEventListener) { w.addEventListener("load", go, false); } else if (w.attachEvent) { w.attachEvent("onload",go); } }(window, document, 'script')); tweet Share