The United Kingdom's energy markets remained volatile as oil surpassed $80 a barrel for the first time in three years.
By the end of the trading day in Europe on September 28, stocks had fallen across the board, with the FTSE 100 down 0.4%, Germany's DAX down 1.9%, and France's CAC down 2.1%, according to a Yahoo Finance report.
"While energy shortages are likely to have a negative impact on economic growth, strength in the oil price was good news for Royal Dutch Shell and BP,” Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell stated. "Shell and BP are among the biggest constituents of the FTSE 100 and so their share price performance has considering weighting on the direction of the overall index. Their stocks advanced by approximately 2% on Tuesday, making them the top performers after Smiths Group which jumped 3.6% on an update regarding the sale of its medical division."
Despite these gains by Shell and BP, the FTSE 100 as a whole fell, as miners, pharmaceuticals and financials all saw losses.
U.S. stocks also fell ahead of U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell's recent speech in which he acknowledged that inflationary pressures had persisted longer than expected.
"It seems that hawks have convinced the Federal Reserve to begin tapering in November 2021 and this is creating a drama in the markets," Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade stated.
Additionally, consumer confidence in the U.S. dropped significantly to 109.3 in September, a six-month low, continuing a trend that began in August, when consumer confidence unexpectedly declined from 125.10.
Asia's stock markets were also mixed by the end of the trading day, with Chinese stocks rising.
The Hang Seng closed 1.7% higher, the SSE Composite closed 0.6% higher, and the Nikkei closed 0.2% lower.