(Sharecast News) - Banks and Life insurers paced losses as expectations for interest rate cuts in the U.S. continued to shift.

Case in point, on Thursday Berenberg chief economist Holger Schmieding changed his forecast for the Federal Reserve's first rate cut from June to December.

Wall Street was in fact trading mixed on Thursday afternoon but across the Continent shares were bathed in red.

Longer-term Gilt yields meanwhile were tracking the move higher in similarly-dated U.S. Treasuries.

That was even as the latest inflation data, for U.S. producer prices in March, came in slightly below forecasts.

Travel and Leisure was also in the red, following reports overnight that Iranian retaliation for the bombing of its embassy in Damascus might be imminent.

Not surprisingly, the leaderboard was a who´s who of defensive sectors.

Top performing sectors so far today

Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 21,343.69 +1.38%

Electricity 9,683.78 +1.36%

Real Estate Investment Trusts 2,230.57 +0.31%

Tobacco 25,942.20 +0.29%

Real Estate Investment & Services 2,202.61 +0.26%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Banks 3,877.25 -3.05%

Travel & Leisure 7,665.72 -2.64%

Life Insurance 5,742.60 -2.60%

Retailers 3,808.51 -2.16%

Personal Care, Drug and Grocery Stores 3,717.80 -1.33%