By Simon Kennedy
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets dropped in early trading Thursday as oil prices moved higher, and after Moody's Investors Service cut its rating on Spanish sovereign debt. Among stocks on the move, shares in U.K. insurance and investments group Standard Life PLC (UK:SL. 244.70, 0.00, 0.00%) dropped 2% after it reported results for 2010, while Belgian supermarket operator Delhaize (BE:DELB 57.40, 0.00, 0.00%) climbed 4.2% after reporting an improving performance in the U.S. Among the main indexes, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 (UK:UKX 5,937, -37.46, -0.63%) fell 0.6% to 5,901.69, the French CAC 40 (FR:PX1 3,994, -22.10, -0.55%) dropped 0.7% to 3,965.46 and the German DAX 30 (DX:DAX 7,132, -32.95, -0.46%) lost 0.6% at 7,085.98. |
