Europe's main stock markets were in the red at the start of trading on Tuesday, while bond yields climbed, as persistent inflation in France and Spain heightened fears about central bank monetary policy.
In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.36% to 7,269.10 points at 08:47 GMT. In London, the FTSE 100 lost 0.49% and in Frankfurt, the Dax fell by 0.29%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index was down by 0.33%, the FTSEurofirst 300 by 0.48% and the Stoxx 600 by 0.37%.
European and US indices finished in the green on Monday thanks to bargain buying, after suffering their worst weekly performance of the year last week.
With the economy in good shape, analysts have recently revised upwards their expectations for the level at which Federal Reserve and European Central Bank interest rates will peak.
And the statistics published this morning do little to reassure on this point. In France, inflation calculated according to European standards accelerated to 7.2% year-on-year, compared with 7% in January and the Reuters consensus, while figures for Spain also showed a sharper-than-expected rise in the HICP price index, to 6.1%.
The euro wiped out its losses, and benchmark bond yields accelerated in the wake of these indicators: the ten-year OAT reached its highest level since April 2012 at 3.15%, while the German Bund
gained over six basis points to 2.649%, the highest since 2011.
"Inflation is proving to be more resilient than previously thought (...) This therefore raises the question of whether the markets have not burnt their bridges in assessing an overall decline in inflation," said Alex Livingstone, at Titan Asset Management.
"If this continues to be the case, with higher-than-expected figures in Europe and the US, we can expect a further rise in the dollar against currencies traditionally more dependent on risk sentiment such as sterling and the euro."
On the stock market, Casino lost 1%, as the retailer's sales growth slowed in the fourth quarter compared with the previous three months.
Leading the CAC 40, Worldline gained 2.23% as Morgan Stanley changed its rating to "overweight".
In London, Ocado fell by 7.78% after announcing a heavier-than-expected annual loss. (Laetitia Volga, edited by Matthieu Protard)
Worldline is one of the world's leading providers of electronic payment and transactional services. Net sales break down by activity as follows:
- merchant services (72.1%): this division enables merchants to increase their sales and improve their customers' experience in a secure and trusted environment, with exceptional expertise and pan-European coverage;
- financial services (20.5%): this division, leader in Europe, provides financial data processing and enables financial institutions to deploy transformative technologies, manage risk and fraud, optimize processes and ensure operational excellence;
- mobility & transactional web services (7.4%): this division provides, beyond payment processing, expertise in new markets with secure dematerialization, Internet of Things and electronic ticketing solutions.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: France (12.1%), Southern Europe (20%), Central and Eastern Europe (34.5%), Northern Europe (23.2%) and other (10.2%).
WORLDLINE 
