Europe's stock markets look set to remain subdued over the short-to-medium term on fears of a global economic slowdown and particularly poor economic indicators coming out of the Old Continent. The outlook only worsened following recent comments from the European Central Bank (ECB) as the regulator lowered its eurozone GDP growth forecasts for 2019 from 1.7% to 1.1%, also scaling down its 2020 projections from 1.7% to 1.6%. European stocks then took another hit following the publication of seriously weak Chinese export data revealing an annualised fall of 20.7% for February. This comes after the previous month's numbers showed a 9.1% rise in January. Of course, these figures are a knock-on effect of the Asian giant's ongoing trade conflict with the USA.
The bad news continued for the European and world markets with poor labor market data from the US pointing to a deterioration of the economic situation in the country. All of the above factors explain why many investors are concerned about a potential slowdown in the global economy. Looking now to regional news, we received reports that the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Norway, which is responsible for managing the Nordic nation's assets, is set to sell its oil and gas shares under instructions from the country's Ministry of Finance. Meanwhile, Europe continues its wait for a definitive solution to the issue of Brexit.