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Paris - European stocks dropped on Thursday, halting their two-week rally after the US Federal Reserve sounded less dovish on policy as it ended its six-year bond-buying programme.
At 13:26, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.8% at 1 309.31 points, after rising nearly 9% since a 13-month low hit on October 16.
As expected, the US central bank on Wednesday ended its stimulative quantitative easing scheme, but a relatively hawkish tone to the accompanying statement prompted investors to rethink the consensus that the first US interest rate hike would be late in 2015.
"This is a key step for the Fed, and despite market jitters in the short-term, it's a necessary move as the US economy is in a pretty good shape," said Jeanne Asseraf-Bitton, head of global cross-asset research, at Lyxor Asset Management.
"The global economy doesn't need more liquidity at this point, it needs economic growth."
The Fed's bond-buying programme has been strongly supportive of risky assets such as equity markets worldwide in the past two years, with the FTSEurofirst 300 up about 40% since mid-2012.
European stock markets seen as the most risky took a beating on Thursday, with Spain's IBEX 2.3% lower, Portugal's PSI 20 down 2.7% and Greece's ATG down 3.9%.
Bucking the trend, shares in Alcatel-Lucent surged 11% after the telecoms gear maker said it squeezed out more costs to improve its gross profit margin to a better than expected 34%.
Renault also gained ground, up 2.6% after the automaker posted a rise in third-quarter revenue and upgraded its European auto market growth forecast for the full year.
So far in Europe's earnings season, 36% companies have reported results, of which 67% managed to meet or beat profit forecasts, and 59% met or beat revenue forecasts, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine data.
In absolute terms, profits are up 7.1%, while revenues are up 0.1%, highlighting the fact that Europe's earnings rebound has mostly been coming from cost cutting and lower financing costs.
