European stocks down sharply as commodities tumble; DAX falls 1.40%
Investing.com
Published Jan 05, 2011 05:37AM ET
Investing.com – European stocks were sharply lower on Wednesday, as shares in the commodity sector led declines, while U.S. futures indexes pointed to a lower open on Wall Street.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 plunged 1.43%; France’s CAC 40 slumped 1.09%; while Germany's DAX tumbled 1.40%.
Shares in the commodity sector performed poorly after crude oil and metal prices plunged on Tuesday.
Europe’s largest natural gas provider E.ON saw shares fall 1.14%, oil driller GDF Suez saw shares drop 1.12%, while shares in French mining group Suez Environment declined 1.20%.
Meanwhile, shares in the financial sector were broadly lower ahead of an auction of Portuguese bonds. Spain’s largest lender Banco Santander saw shares plunge 2.97%, shares in rival BBVA dropped 3.16%, while Europe’s largest banking group BNP Paribas saw shares tumble 1.92%.
Elsewhere, shares in the world’s largest maker of computer mice Logitech International tumbled 4.91% after the stock was downgraded by Morgan Stanley.
Shares in the world’s third largest advertising firm Publicis Groupe fell 2.17% after the Royal Bank of Scotland downgraded the stock to “hold”.
In London, the commodity-heavy FTSE 100 dropped 0.46% as shares in the world’s largest mining group BHP Billiton plunged 2.08%, rival Rio Tinto saw shares slide 1.48%, while copper producer Anglo American saw shares plummet 1.92%.
Meanwhile, shares in oil and gas giant British Petroleum gained 0.79% a day after the Daily Mail reported that rival Royal Dutch Shell considered a takeover bid for the company during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Shares in Shell tumbled 1.57%.
Elsewhere, shares in Arm Holdings, the designer of chips that power Apple’s iPhone jumped 2.08% after CNBC reported late Tuesday that the U.K. company may be a takeover target for technology giant Intel.
The outlook for U.S. equity markets, meanwhile, was downbeat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a loss of 0.47%, S&P 500 futures indicated a drop of 0.57% and Nasdaq 100 futures pointed to a decrease of 0.54%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish data on ADP non-farm payrolls as well as a report on service sector growth.
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