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- Restoration experts piece together silent Sherlock Holmes mystery
- Sinner avoids Shanghai deja vu with assured Shelton win
- Pyongyang to 'permanently' shut border with South Korea
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- Climate change made deadly Hurricane Helene more intense: study
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- With EU funding, Tunisian farmer revives parched village
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- Boeing suspends negotiations with striking workers
- 7-Eleven owner's shares spike on report of new buyout offer
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- Three million UK children living below poverty line: study
- China's Jia brings film spanning love, change over decades to Busan
- Paying out disaster relief before climate catastrophe strikes
- Chinese shares drop on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
- SE Asian summit seeks progress on Myanmar civil war
- How climate funds helped Peru's women beekeepers stay afloat
- Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded as wars rage
- Pacific island nations swamped by global drug trade
- AI-aided research, new materials eyed for Nobel Chemistry Prize
- Mozambique elects new president in tense vote
- The US economy is solid: Why are voters gloomy?
- Balkan summit to rally support for struggling Ukraine
- New stadium gives Real Madrid a headache
- Alonso, Manaea shine as 'Miracle Mets' blitz Phillies
- Harris, Trump trade blows in US election media blitz
- Harry's Bar in Paris drinks to US straw-poll centenary
- Osama bin Laden's son Omar banned from returning to France
- Afghan man arrested for plotting US election day attack
- Brazil lifts ban on Musk's X, ending standoff over disinformation
- Harris holds slight edge nationally over Trump: poll
- Chelsea edge Real Madrid in Women's Champions League, Lyon win
- Japan PM to dissolve parliament for 'honeymoon' snap election
- 'Diego Lives': Immersive Maradona exhibit hits Barcelona
- Brazil Supreme Court lifts ban on Musk's X
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- Mexico president rules out new 'war on drugs'
- Israeli defense minister postpones trip to Washington: Pentagon
- Europe skipper Donald in talks with Garcia over Ryder return
- Kenya MPs vote to impeach deputy president in historic move
- Former US coach Berhalter named Chicago Fire head coach
- New York Jets fire head coach Saleh: team
European bourses fall amid political unease; Nasdaq ends at new record
Stock markets mostly retreated on Thursday as traders reacted to political uncertainty in Europe and the US Federal Reserve's plan to only cut interest rates once this year.
European stocks closed firmly in the red, Paris and Frankfurt shedding around two percent each as investors continued to track fallout from far-right gains in last weekend's EU elections.
Returns were better on Wall Street, where both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at fresh records following lower wholesale prices The Dow finished narrowly lower.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve left its key lending rate unchanged and penciled in just one rate cut this year, down from the three expected in March.
In France, the European Union's second-largest economy, President Emmanuel Macron is under pressure ahead of snap elections he called after a drubbing by the far right in EU-wide polls.
"Yesterday's cautious Fed meeting and ongoing political worries in Europe continue to put pressure on equity markets generally," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG.
The early French legislative elections called for June 30 and July 7 "have sent investors scurrying from European stocks", he added.
The brighter performance by the Nasdaq index shows that "the technology sector remains the primary driver of market performance", according to FOREX.com market analyst Fawad Razaqzada.
"One has to wonder how much further the sector can hold up the market."
Investors were also keeping an eye on the yen as the Bank of Japan started a two-day policy meeting, with speculation swirling that it is preparing the ground for a further tightening after lifting interest rates in March for the first time in 17 years.
Japan has been an outlier in recent years, deciding against raising interest rates to fight high inflation. And just as major central banks are looking to cut borrowing costs, the BoJ has decided to start hiking them.
Among individual companies, Broadcom surged 12.3 percent as it lifted its full-year forecast on strong demand for artificial intelligence programs. The chip company also announced a ten-for-one stocks split.
Tesla rose 2.9 percent after CEO Elon Musk said shareholders backed his proposed compensation plan of up to $56 billion, as well as a transfer of the carmaker's place of incorporation from Delaware to Texas.
Markets had viewed a defeat as a potential negative for Tesla if Musk had chosen to exit the company.
- Key figures around 2010 GMT -
New York - Dow Jones: DOWN 0.2 percent at 38,647.10 (close)
New York - S&P 500: UP 0.2 percent at 5,433.74 (close)
New York - Nasdaq: UP 0.3 percent at 17,667.56 (close)
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.6 percent at 8,163.67 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 2.0 percent at 7,708.02 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 2.0 percent at 18,265.68 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 2.0 percent at 4,935.50 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0746 from $1.0809 on Wednesday
Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.15 pence from 84.45 pence
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2766 from $1.2798
Dollar/yen: UP at 157.03 yen from 156.72 yen
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.2 percent at $78.62 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.2 percent at $82.75 per barrel
burs-jmb
M.A.Colin--AMWN