European stocks push lower, German ruling ahead; Dax down 1.83%

Investing.com - European stocks pushed sharply lower on Tuesday, ahead of German court hearings on the European Central Bank's bond-buying plan and amid growing expectations for the Federal Reserve to scale down its stimulus program in the near future.

During European afternoon trade, the EURO STOXX 50 plunged 2.26%, France’s CAC 40 plummeted 2.07%, while Germany’s DAX 30 tumbled 1.83%.

Germany’s constitutional court was to begin a two-day hearing later Tuesday to address the ECB’s Outright Monetary Transactions program and the European Stability Mechanism.

Meanwhile, speculation that the U.S. central bank will begin to taper its asset purchase program continued following last week’s upbeat U.S. jobs data and after ratings agency Standard & Poor’s revised its long-term outlook on the U.S. credit rating to stable from negative on Monday, citing an improving economic outlook.

Financial stocks remained broadly lower, as shares in French lenders BNP Paribas and Societe Generale tumbled 1.79% and 2.04%, while Germany's Deutsche Bank plummeted 1.34%.

Peripheral lenders added to losses, with Spanish banks BBVA and Banco Santander retreating 2.31% and 2.03% respectively, while Italy's Unicredit and Intesa Sanpaolo plunged 2.10% and 3.01%

Elsewhere, RWE AG dropped 1.28% amid reports Germany’s second-largest utility is struggling to find buyers for its Dea oil-and-gas unit.

In London, FTSE 100 tumbled 1.80% as U.K. lenders tracked their European counterparts lower, while official data showed that manufacturing production in the U.K. rose by a smaller than forecast 0.2% in April, and industrial production unexpectedly rose 0.1%.

Shares in Barclays declined 1.84% and Lloyds Banking tumbled 1.90%, while HSBC Holdings and the Royal Bank of Scotland plummeted 1.92% and 1.56%.

Mining companies also remained on the downside, as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto both plunged 3.44%, while Evraz and Fresnillo dove 5.18% and 5.59% respectively.

Meanwhile, FastJet Plc plummeted 2.04%, erasing earlier gains after the African discount-airline startup said that Executive Chairman David Lenigas has stepped down with immediate effect and that Chief Executive Officer Ed Winter will replace him on an interim basis.

In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a lower open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.67% loss, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.78% decline, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.80% drop.