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French inflation came in at 7.2% year on year in February on a harmonized basis, up from 7% in January and a record for the country.

Monthly inflation rose from 0.4% to 0.9%, while analysts had forecast prices to rise at a steady rate. Food prices rose by 14.5% on the year, official statistics showed, up from 13.3% last month.

Last week, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire met retailers to discuss ways to prevent food prices from rising much further, setting a March 15 deadline for a plan.

Meanwhile Spanish inflation also came in hotter than forecast on Tuesday, with core annual inflation increasing from 7.5% to 7.7%. The monthly figure shot up from a 0.2% price fall to 0.7% inflation.

— Jenni Reid

Finland’s economy slipped into technical recession in the second half of last year, according to data from national agency Statistics Finland.

The country’s gross domestic product contracted by 0.6% in the October-December period, after falling by 0.3% across July-September.

“Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the rapid rate of inflation weakened both consumers’ and entrepreneurs’ confidence in the future,” Finland Statistics said.

Finland’s economy grew by an overall 2% in 2022.

— Ruxandra Iordache

European markets were downbeat in early trade, with sectors a sea of red and the Stoxx 600 index shedding 0.45%. Auto stocks led losses, while oil and gas bucked the trend to rise 0.5%.

France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX were both down around 0.5%, while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 lost 0.35%.

Credit Suisse “seriously breached its supervisory obligations” through its business relationship with financier Lex Greensill and his companies, Switzerland’s FINMA regulator said Tuesday.

The Swiss lender’s exposure to the London-based Greensill Capital resulted in massive reimbursements to investors after the supply chain finance firm collapsed in early 2021.

“This marks an important step towards the final resolution of the SCFF issue,” Credit Suisse CEO Ulrich Körner said. “FINMA’s review has reinforced many of the findings of the Board-initiated independent review and underlines the importance of the actions we have taken in recent years to strengthen our Risk and Compliance culture. We also continue to focus on maximizing recovery for fund investors.”

Read the full story here.

Hong Kong will end its mask mandate for indoors and outdoors on Wednesday, March 1 – its Chief Executive John Lee said in a briefing.

When asked for the reasoning behind the timing, Lee cited “overall assessment” and emphasized that the government had previously said it would be closely monitoring the situation.

Mask rules for hospitals and nursing homes will be “added administratively,” Lee said.

– Jihye Lee

Two tech themes have taken Wall Street by storm so far this year.

One is the return of semiconductor stocks, as demand bounces back for chips; the other is artificial intelligence, following the buzz surrounding chatbot ChatGPT.

CNBC Pro screened for the highest-rated ETFs with exposure to semiconductor and/or AI-related stocks (among others) using Morningstar data. The resulting funds all received a four- or five-star rating by Morningstar, and have performed well over the past three years.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

European markets are heading for a positive open Thursday, tracking modest gains on Wall Street.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 36 points higher at 7,940, Germany’s DAX 18 points higher at 15,419, France’s CAC up 8 points at 7,308 and Italy’s FTSE MIB up 36 points at 27,504, according to data from IG.

Earnings are set to come from Ocado, Bayer, Man Group, Adecco Group, Atos and Bunzl and data releases include French and Spanish inflation data for February and Germany’s revised gross domestic product figures for the fourth quarter.

— Holly Ellyatt

The stock market’s recent attempt to pull out of a downtrend could soon come to an end, according to Morgan Stanley.

Mike Wilson, the firm’s chief U.S. equity strategist, said in a note to clients Monday that the S&P 500 is on the verge of falling back into a bear market.

“With the equity market showing signs of exhaustion after the last Fed meeting, the S&P 500 is at critical technical support. Given our view on earnings, March is a high risk month for the bear market to resume,” Wilson said.

For more, read the full story on CNBC Pro.

—Jesse Pound, Tanaya Macheel