* Tech shares at lowest since late March
* Travel stocks caught in European sell-off
* Investors brace for strong U.S. inflation data
(Adds comments, updates prices throughout)
By Shreyashi Sanyal and Sruthi Shankar
May 11 (Reuters) - European stocks tumbled from all-time
highs on Tuesday, with the travel, retail and technology sectors
among the top losers after global sentiment turned risk-averse
on worries about rising inflation in the United States.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX fell 2.0%, its
biggest percentage decline since late December. The main bourses
in Frankfurt .DAX , Paris .FCHI and London .FTSE all lost
more than 2%.
Wall Street's main indexes slid for the second straight day,
with the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX hitting a one-month low on
fears that rising inflation could push the U.S. Federal Reserve
to tighten monetary policy faster than expected. .N
"We will see inflation bounce back in the short term. The
second thing is we have bottlenecks in certain areas," said
Niall Gallagher, European equity fund manager at GAM.
Gallagher said jumps in commodity prices and issues around
semiconductors were some of the factors that will lead to a
short-term spike in inflation.
European technology shares .SX8P fell 2% to their lowest
in six weeks, while mining firms .SXPP handed back some of the
strong gains notched up in the previous session.
Travel and leisure stocks .SXTP slumped 5.7% overall.
Sweden's Evolution Gaming Group EVOG.ST tumbled 13.8% after
the bookrunner announced the pricing of block trades.
Meanwhile, British Airways' owner, IAG ICAG.L , slumped
7.4% after announcing a convertible bond offering worth 800
million euros. German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp TKAG.DE tumbled 10.2% as
its closely watched cash flow plunged deeper into the red in the
second quarter, hit by restructuring costs and investments.
German minerals group K+S SDFGn.DE fell 2.7% despite
raising its 2021 core profit forecast. The pullback in European stocks comes after a strong rally,
with the STOXX 600 up 9% so far this year as a solid earnings
season and optimism about the reopening of the economy saw more
buying in economy-sensitive parts of the market.
Among the few gainers was the UK lifestyle e-commerce
company THG HG Plc THG.L , which soared 11.9% after raising
more than $1 billion in equity, including $730 million from
Japan's SoftBank Group 9984.T .