European stocks remain mixed after data; DAX tumbles 1%

Investing.com - European stock markets were mixed in choppy trade on Tuesday, as sentiment remained under pressure amid fresh concerns over Spain’s financial crisis and after a string of downbeat euro zone data.

During European afternoon trade, the EURO STOXX 50 fell 0.29%, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.32%, while Germany’s DAX 30 dropped 1%.

Sentiment waned after Spain’s Treasury Minister Cristobal Montoro said earlier that financial markets were effectively closed to Spain because of the current high level of the country’s borrowing costs.

Meanwhile, revised data showed that the euro zone's services sector contracted at a slightly slower rate than initially expected in May, but still shrank at the fastest pace since June 2009, while another report showed that retail sales in the bloc dropped 1% in April.

In Germany official data showed that factory orders dropped 1.9% in April, compared to expectations for a 1% decline, fanning concerns over the impact of the ongoing sovereign debt crisis on the region’s largest economy.

Investor confidence had improved earlier, ahead of a teleconference of G7 finance ministers later Tuesday, to discuss the euro zone’s debt crisis.

Financial stocks were mixed as shares in French lenders BNP Paribas and Societe Generale jumped 1.10% and 1.91%, extending earlier gains, while Germany’s Deutsche Bank tumbled 1.11%.

Bankia, one of Spain’s most talked about lenders for the past few weeks, saw shares rally 3.35% after the country’s budget minister said Spanish banks don’t need an excessive amount of money. Banco Santander climbed 1.32% and BBVA added 0.82%.

Meanwhile, Banco Espirito Santo surged 3.46% after Portugal’s government said it will give more than EUR6.6 billion to Banco Comercial Portugues, Banco BPI and Caixa Geral de Depositos to help them meet capital requirements.

Elsewhere, shares in Swiss group Holcim fell 0.10% after new Chief Executive Bernard Fontana signaled the company could “selectively” dispose of some of its businesses this year as it moves ahead with a cost-cutting program, while the group will restrict spending on expansion.

ThromboGenics plunged 19.40% after the company and its partner BioInvent International stopped developing an anticoagulant drug because it caused too much bleeding in a clinical trial. Shares in BioInvent sank 58.69%.

Markets in the U.K. remained closed due to a national holiday.

In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a lower open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to fall of 0.18%, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.34% decline, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.30% loss.

Later in the day, the U.S. Institute for Supply Management was to release a report on non-manufacturing activity.