LSE: European Markets Fall Amid Greek Worries As Oil Drops
JENA (Alliance News) - The European markets were weak on Monday, amid concerns about falling oil prices and Greece leaving the eurozone in the wake of the snap elections scheduled in the debt-ridden country.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel reportedly said the eurozone could cope with a potential Greek exit if it was proved necessary. The anti-austerity party Syriza seems to have an upper hand in the snap election there.
On the economic front, a measure of Eurozone investor confidence unexpectedly rose for a third straight month, moving into the positive territory, led by Germany, survey data from the think tank Sentix showed. The investor confidence index climbed to 0.9 from -2.5 in December. Economists had forecast an improvement to -1.
German employment reached a record high for the eighth consecutive year in 2014, a report published by German statistical office Destatis said. An average of 42.598 million persons were employed in 2014, up 372,000 or 0.9% from the previous year.
At 8 am ET, Destatis is scheduled to release its flash consumer prices report. Consumer prices are expected to grow 0.3% year-over-year in December after a 0.6% rise in November. The harmonised index of consumer prices is estimated to increase 0.2%, following the 0.5% climb in November.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks was down 0.78%, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major UK companies, was losing 0.43%.
The German DAX fell 0.4%, while the French CAC 40 and the FTSE 100 index of the UK dropped 0.7% each. Switzerland's SMI, meanwhile, gained moderately.
In Frankfurt, Lanxess dropped 3.1% and sports goods giant adidas fell 1.7%.
BMW and Volkswagen were losing 1.2% each.
Bucking the trend, Deutsche Boerse gained 2.3% and Fresenius Medical Care advanced 2.1%.
In Paris, Total fell close to 2%. Oilfield services provider Technip was moderately lower.
Metal fabrication firm Vallourec dropped 1.7% and builder Vinci declined 1.5%.
Yet Airbus added 3.2% and Essilor International gained 2.4%.
In London, Weir Group declined around 4% and Aggreko dropped 2.7%.
Tullow Oil and BP were losing 2.7% and 2.6%, respectively.
Cruise company Carnival gained 3.3% and airlines International Consolidated Airlines and easyJet advanced 2.6% and 2% in that order.
Ryanair, which reported increased traffic and load factor for December, rose around 2%.
Citigroup reduced Repsol to "Neutral" from "Buy." The stock fell 2% in Madrid.
The Asian stocks ended mostly lower as lower crude oil prices and continued political turmoil in Greece overshadowed expectations of fresh European Central Bank stimulus.
In the US, futures point to a lower open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the major averages ended mixed showing little change as disappointing reports on US manufacturing and construction spending offset dovish comments from ECB President Mario Draghi.
Crude for February delivery fell USD1.02 to USD51.67 per barrel, while gold gained USD3.4 to USD1189.6 a troy ounce.
