Europe open: Shares down as Trump threatens Iranian civilian infrastructure

(Sharecast News) - European shares were lower at the open on Wednesday as the US launched the fourth consecutive day of strikes against Iran and President Donald Trump threatened to bomb the country into submission if it did not strike a peace deal.

The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was down 0.17% to 641 at 0823 BST with all major bourses in the red.

Sentiment was also hit by an unexpected fall in Chinese second quarter GDP to its weakest level in more than three years, according to official data released on Wednesday.

Gross domestic product for the second quarter came in at 4.3% down from the 5% recorded in the previous three months as weak domestic demand and the impact of the Iran war on oil supplies outweighed stronger production and exports.

For the first half of the year GDP expanded by 4.7%, within Beijing's 4.5-5% annual target range.

Tensions in the Gulf were elevated when Trump threatened to expand US strikes on Iran next week to target power plants and bridges if Tehran did not agree to a peace deal, while Tehran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed.

"Next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants. Next week comes the bridges," Trump said in a Fox News interview on Tuesday. "We're going to knock out all their power plants. We're going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate."

On the equities front, shares in ASML jumped as the world's biggest supplier of equipment used to manufacture computer chips lifted financial forecasts for 2026 and said it would expand capacity after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter earnings.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com