European stocks fall as London market falters, after BoE gloomy outlook

European stocks fell at opening on Thursday, to head for the second loss in 3 sessions, with London's stock market leading the losses, after the Bank of England issued a gloomy outlook at the end of its monetary policy meeting.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.4% as of 10:15 GMT, after it gained 0.5% yesterday, after basic materials sector stocks surged.

The pan European index opened lower today, with most of the major European markets and sectors seeing red today.

The mining and basic materials sector saw the largest losses in Europe today, with a drop of over 1.7%.

The Bank of England held the interest rates unchanged today, and warned against slashing interest rates below zero, in addition to saying the economy will not recover to its pre-pandemic levels until the end of 2021.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.1%, after the index closed higher by 0.6% yesterday at Wall Street, on hopes for an agreement on the next US relief bill.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 0.5%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.6%, Germany's DAX lost 0.2%, and the UK's FTSE 100 lost 1.3%.