MW: European stocks pull lower; Rolls Royce under pressure
European stocks declined Monday, facing the prospect of breaking their longest winning streak in almost three months.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, -0.26% fell 0.4% to 361.46, with only the utilities sector moving higher. There, RWE AG RWE, +11.18% and E. ON SE EOAN, +7.50% rallied 12% and 9%, respectively, after Germany’s economy ministry said the utilities have the money to cover the costs of decommissioning of nuclear power plants.
The rallies in RWE and E. ON helped Germany’s DAX 30 index DAX, +0.19% outperform other national indexes as it rose 0.3% to 10,124.44. The DAX last week rose 5.7%, its best week since December 2011.
The Stoxx 600 itself last week rose 4.3%, the biggest weekly gain since mid-July. That came as the benchmark notched its sixth-consecutive winning session, the longest string of wins also since mid-July. Aiding last week’s move were minutes from the Federal Reserve’s September policy meeting, which highlighted the U.S. central bank’s reluctance to lift interest rates.
But Monday’s session saw losses for shares of engine maker Rolls Royce Holdings PLC RR., -4.43% The stock fell 4.2% following a Financial Times report this weekend that European regulators are investigating aircraft maintenance contracts, looking into whether airlines are being forced to enter anticompetitive contracts to keep their planes flying.
The pullback in Rolls Royce shares weighed on the U.K.’s FTSE 100 index UKX, -0.56% It fell 0.5% to 6,382.58
In France, the CAC 40 index PX1, -0.40% was off 0.7% at 4,669.26. Last week’s rise of 5.4% was the index’s biggest since January.