Middle East Unrest and Tech Selloff Drag STOXX 600 to Two-Week Low

A sharp 0.7% slide to 618.42 points on Monday signaled deepening investor unease across European markets, as renewed volatility in the Middle East compounded a broader retreat in artificial intelligence stocks. The downturn hit regional indexes across the board, reversing recent momentum as energy costs surged and sector-specific anxieties intensified.

Editorial·June 8, 2026·reads: 3,331

Crude oil prices spiked more than 4% following intensifying friction between Israel and Iran, rattling markets sensitive to energy inflation. Airline operators bore the brunt of this shift, with Lufthansa and Air France shares retreating by roughly 2% as investors recalibrated for potential fuel shocks.

Amid the broader selloff, Italy’s Monte dei Paschi di Siena provided a rare outlier, surging 10.7% after Intesa Sanpaolo launched a 30.6 billion euro takeover bid. Market participants are now shifting their focus toward Thursday, when the European Central Bank is widely expected to implement a 25-basis-point interest rate hike.