German stocks dropped, following a late selloff by U.S. equities, as a report showed industrial production in the euro area declined at a faster pace than economists had estimated. EON AG retreated 1.8 percent as brokerages such as Deutsche Bank AG and Bank of America Corp. lowered their recommendations on Germany’s largest utility. Infineon Technologies AG surged 5.6 percent after Europe’s second-biggest semiconductor maker announced it will reduce spending next year. The DAX (DAX) slid 0.4 percent to 7,140.23 at 12:02 p.m. in Frankfurt. The equity benchmark has still rallied 20 percent from this year’s low on June 5 as the European Central Bank approved an unlimited bond-buying program and the U.S. Federal Reserve started a third round of asset purchases. The broader HDAX Index also slipped 0.4 percent today. German stocks climbed less than 0.1 percent after the gauge erased its decline in the final hour of trading amid speculation Spain will soon seek a full bailout from the European Union. Euro-region industrial production declined 2.5 percent in September, wider than the 2 percent slide that economists had forecast. Output in the 17-nation euro area increased a revised 0.9 percent in August, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. In the U.K., a release from the Office for National Statistics showed that the unemployment rate dropped to 7.8 percent in September from 7.9 percent in the three months through August. In the U.S., a Commerce Department report at 8:30 a.m. in Washington today will show that retail sales fell 0.2 percent in October, their first decline in four months, according to the median forecast of 83 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. EON Drops EON slipped 1.8 percent to 14.37 euros as brokerages including Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, Exane BNP Paribas and Societe Generale cut their ratings for the utility. The shares tumbled the most in more than 20 years yesterday after EON said its forecast of 3.2 billion euros ($4.1 billion) to 3.7 billion euros had become unachievable. K+S AG (SDF) dropped 1.9 percent to 33.65 euros after Exane and HSBC reduced their price targets to 31 euros and 50 euros, respectively. Europe’s largest potash maker said yesterday that sales and profit in 2012 will only reach the bottom of its targeted range. The company said delayed Chinese and Indian contracts restrained market prices for fertilizer. Infineon jumped 5.6 percent to 5.53 euros after also reporting fourth-quarter sales and operating profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates. Operating profit of 116 million euros in the three months ended Sept. 30 beat the 105 million-euro average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales slipped 1 percent to 982 million euros from the previous three-month period, the Neubiberg, Germany-based company said. Analysts had predicted revenue of 974 million euros. To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Levring in Copenhagen at plevring1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net

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