AstraZeneca, Unilever Tumble As FTSE 100 Struggles With Rising Energy Prices

Shares of COVID-19 vaccine maker AstraZeneca PLC AZN along with other multinational British companies such as Unilever PLC UL, Diageo PLC DEO, HSBC Holdings PLC HSBC, and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (NYSE: RDS-A), all experienced a drop in their stock prices on Monday as the ongoing energy crisis consumes Britain. 

What Happened: The FTSE 100 exchange in London traded  30.2 points down from Friday's close of 7,234.03 at the time of writing on Monday, representing a drop of 0.4%. A large reason for the drop can be attributed to the growing concern in rising energy prices, which has been a recurring concern for the U.K. over the past few weeks. 

Despite making significant gains over the past week, a post-Brexit United Kingdom is facing a host of challenges with labor shortages and supply chain issues, adding to the existing woes of a looming energy crisis. Speaking with Yahoo Sports, a CMC analyst elaborated on the FTSE's sluggish start to the week.

"It’s been a lackluster start to the week, as the optimism of last week has given way to concerns that rising energy prices could well translate into weaker growth, as well as the risk of some possible policy tightening by central banks to help anchor future inflation expectations," said Michael Hewson.

Chris Beauchamp, IG's chief market analyst offered an alternate take on the matter in conversion with Yahoo. "Today’s hesitation doesn’t change that fact, and with so little news on the calendar today some indecision was to be expected," Beauchamp added.

The Euronext 100 located in Amsterdam was down 0.22% at the time of writing on Tuesday, while Germany's DAX index fell by 0.7% and France's CMC 30 experienced a similar drop, down 0.8% from Friday with slowing Economic growth in China cited as the primary reason for the drop.