European stocks narrowly extended their longest losing streak since September 2023 as bond yields fluctuated on comments about sustained US intervention in the bond market. The Stoxx 600 closed 0.1% lower on Thursday. Stocks fluctuated during the day alongside government bond yields, which pulled back after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated US buybacks could be larger than initially announced. Consumer products and retail shares were the biggest laggards while energy was the best-performing sector. Brent Crude oil traded above $93 a barrel on investor concerns about the stalemate between the US and Iran. European natural gas also rose to a five-month high.

In single stocks, JD Sports Fashion Plc fell 14% after issuing a profit warning. Novonesis Novozymes B rose 9.6% after the Danish biotech group's second-quarter sales beat expectations and the company lifted its full-year guidance. Europe's benchmark index has faltered after rallying since April to record highs.

Investors are in a holding pattern amid lingering geopolitical uncertainty, after an earnings season that far outstripped analyst expectations. "Investors still have a lot of confidence in equities," said Michael Field, chief equity market strategist for EMEA at Morningstar. "We live in these very macroeconomic and geopolitically unstable times and investors have just been reminded of that in the last week or so, that's why the index has come off."