European shares tumble on oil crash, dour earnings

European stocks fell on Tuesday as the double whammy from a crash in U.S. crude to minus $40 per barrel and dismal first-quarter earnings reports spooked investors about the lasting damage to the global economy from the coronavirus pandemic.

BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Total SA fell between 3% and 4.0%, knocking 1.1% off the pan-European STOXX 600 index at 0702 GMT. Miners also tracked a decline in commodity prices.

All major European country indexes slipped a day after U.S. crude plummeted to below zero for the first time in history with a wipeout in storage capacity causing traders to flee contracts that would deliver oil barrels to them in May.

The benchmark STOXX 600 had recovered about 25% from a March trough on a return in risk appetite with unprecedented global stimulus, but remained about 22% away from record highs as companies scrapped dividends and withdrew financial forecasts to deal with the fallout of the pandemic.

Primark owner Associated British Foods fell 2% after saying it would not pay an interim dividend and could not provide a full-year earnings forecast for the fashion retailer.