European shares opened the final quarter lower on Thursday, with the pan-European STOXX 600 dropping 1.3% for its largest one-day decline in three weeks and reaching its lowest level in more than three months. Banks fell 3.7%, their steepest daily decline since March 3, while HSBC and Barclays each lost 4.1% and Lloyds dropped 4.5% amid concern about Britain’s finances before this month’s budget. Government bond yields have risen in recent weeks as investors sold debt, with higher energy costs adding to inflation concerns and strong expectations for artificial-intelligence-driven growth supporting the case for interest rates to stay elevated. Germany’s 10-year government bond yield, the euro area benchmark, eased 5.9 basis points after reaching 3.6526% earlier in the week, its highest since June 2009. France’s 10-year yield reached its highest level since 2002 before the government presented its 2027 budget bill, which included unpopular belt-tightening measures, while the CAC 40 fell 1.6%. Investors are assessing whether higher borrowing costs and energy prices will outweigh resilience in the euro zone economy. German inflation accelerated slightly more than expected in September, while euro zone unemployment was 6.4% in August, matching economists’ expectations in a Reuters poll. Zealand Pharma fell 6.1% after trial results for Boehringer Ingelheim’s obesity drug survodutide, while Capgemini gained 7.3% after Accenture issued an upbeat annual revenue growth forecast. The broader technology index rose 0.5%.