European shares fall after Nvidia, ASML signal mounting corporate pain

April 16 (Reuters) - European shares slipped on Wednesday after a strong start to the week, as concerns over corporate profits deepened following news that Nvidia would shoulder billions in charges due to U.S. export curbs to China.

Adding to tech woes, ASML ASML.AS, the world's biggest supplier of computer chip-making equipment, warned that tariffs were increasing uncertainty for its outlook for 2025 and 2026, sending its shares 7.4% lower.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX fell 0.9%, as of 0706 GMT, after two days of gains although market moves were tamer compared to a week ago.

Other regional indexes - Germany .GDAXI, France .FCHI, Spain .IBEX, and the UK .FTSE also fell between 0.3% and 0.8%.

Nvidia faced a $5.5 billion charge related to its most advanced chip available for sale in China, as U.S. attempts to keep ahead in the AI race.

The European technology sector .SX8P fell 3.2%, leading declines among sectors.

The outlook for European corporate earnings has worsened as the uncertainty caused by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs persists, with analysts expecting companies to report a 3% drop in first-quarter profit, a deeper decline than the 2.2% drop analysts expected a week ago, according to data compiled by LSEG IBES.

The focus is also on the European Central Bank's policy meeting on Thursday, with markets widely anticipating a 25-basis-point rate cut.