MW: European stocks slip with Greece denting trading mood
LONDON (MarketWatch) — European stock markets continued their descent on Tuesday, as concerns over Greece’s reform program outweighed optimism over the European Central Bank’s bond buys and the latest corporate developments.
The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, -0.18% inched 0.1% lower to 392.74. But capping losses for the index, banking giant Credit Suisse Group AG CSGN, +7.41% CS, -0.08% jumped 7.5% after news that Prudential CEO Tidjane Thiam will take over the helm at the Swiss bank.
Greece jitters: With little data to distract on Tuesday, ongoing concerns about Greece’s financial situation continued to weigh on the trading mood. The Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers on Monday urged Greece to stop wasting time and get moving on identifying economic reforms that satisfy its international lenders — a prerequisite to unlock the next tranche of financial aid to Greece. The country is at risk of running out of cash later this month, unless it receives more money.
Technical talks on the economic measures will begin on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Ecofin — the group of European Union finance ministers — met in Brussels for an ordinary meeting.
ECB’s cash injection: While grappling with Greece, investors also monitored the effect of the ECB’s 60-billion-euro ($64.5 billion) a-month quantitative easing program that was kicked off Monday. Bond yields across most of the eurozone dropped close to record lows on the launch date and continued to decline on Tuesday. The yield on 10-year German government bunds TMBMKDE-10Y, -10.79% fell 2 basis points to 0.283%, a record low, according to electronic trading platform Tradeweb.
Euro slide: The shared currency fell to its lowest level since April 2003, hit by the Greek jitters and weakened by the ECB’s QE program. Rising speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve will increase interest rates this year helped boost the dollar, which in turn added more pressure on the euro. The euro EURUSD, -0.86% exchanged hands at $1.0747, down from $1.0853 late Monday in New York.
Other indexes: Germany’s DAX 30 index DAX, -0.56% dropped 0.6% to 11.514.50, falling back from a record closing high reached on Monday.
France’s CAC 40 index PX1, -0.54% lost 0.5% to 4,913.20. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index UKX, -0.74% traded 0.6% lower at 6,836.02.
