European shares fall as hot U.S. inflation data rains on rate-cut hopes

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By Shashwat Chauhan, Khushi Singh and Shristi Achar A

(Reuters) -European shares ended lower on Thursday after a hotter-than-anticipated U.S. inflation reading doused hopes of early interest rate cuts by major central banks across the world.

The pan-European STOXX 600 ended 0.8% lower after rising as much as 0.8% during the day, its third straight day of losses with banks at the forefront of the selloff, down 1.9%.

Earlier in the day, data showed U.S. consumer prices increased more than expected in December, suggesting that it was probably too early for the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates.

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