RTTN:European Markets Fall Ahead Of U.S. Budget Talks
The European markets continue to languish in negative territory, as economic worries once again dampened risk appetite, ahead of the U.S. budget talks beginning today.
Investor focus has turned to the budget discussions between President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders amid fears that the U.S. may fall back into recession if a deal is not reached to avoid the fiscal cliff.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is losing 0.70 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is falling 0.44 percent.
The German DAX is dropping 0.8 percent and the French CAC 40 is falling 0.5 percent. The FTSE 100 index is losing 0.5 percent and Switzerland's SMI is sliding 0.6 percent.
In Frankfurt, Henkel is declining 4.4 percent. The detergent maker reported higher quarterly profit, but said it expects the volatility and uncertainties in its markets to persist.
Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank are declining 3.8 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively.
Bucking the trend, SAP is gaining 1.2 percent.
JPMorgan raised Bayer to "Overweight" from "Neutral.'' The stock is moderately higher.
In Paris, Alcatel Lucent is declining 3.3 percent and STMicroelectronics is falling 2.2 percent. Insurer Axa is dropping 1.6 percent.
Credit Agricole is losing 1.5 percent, while Societe Generale and BNP Paribas are falling around 1 percent each.
However, carmaker Renault is advancing 1.7 percent and tire manufacturer Michelin is gaining around 1 percent.
In London, Melrose is declining over 13 percent. The manufacturing buy-out specialist said revenue trends have slowed and sales outlook for 2013 has become more uncertain.
Evraz is falling 2.7 percent. Eurasian Natural Resources and Rio Tinto are dropping 2.3 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.
BP is down 0.9 percent. The oil giant agreed to pay about $4.5 billion to the U.S. government to settle criminal and securities claims over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico that claimed 11 lives and led to a massive oil spill.
Serco Group is climbing 2.9 percent after issuing an interim management statement. IMI is gaining around 2 percent and Next is advancing 1 percent.
Zurich Insurance is losing 1.3 percent after a broker downgrade.
Boskalis, which raised earnings outlook, is gaining 5.8 percent in Amsterdam.
Across Asia/Pacific, markets ended mixed. Australia's All Ordinaries slid 0.2 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.8 percent. However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.2 percent and Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 2.2 percent.
In the U.S., futures point to a lower open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the Dow and the tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, to close at their lowest levels since June, while the S&P 500 edged down 0.2 percent to hit a three-month low.
In the commodity space, crude for January delivery is falling $0.07 to $85.80 per barrel while December gold is losing $0.9 to $1712.9 a troy ounce.
