European stocks slide on recovery concerns; DAX sheds 0.2%

Investing.com – European stock markets were down on Wednesday, amid a combination of concerns over the pace of the global economic recovery and uncertainty over Greek sovereign debt, while U.S. futures indexes pointed to a lower open on Wall Street.

During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 shed 0.25%, France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.2%, while Germany's DAX 30 was down 0.2% 

Revised data released earlier showed that manufacturing activity in the euro zone fell to a seven-month low in May, while U.K. manufacturing activity slumped to the lowest level since September 2009.

The data came after a report showing that China’s purchasing managers index declined to a 10-month low last month.

Meanwhile, fears over a Greek default continued after German media outlets reported it is now certain that the International Monetary Fund will not pay its share of a fifth tranche of aid to Greece at the end of June.
 
Meanwhile, shares in Nokia tumbled 6.9% after the company warned on Tuesday that second quarter revenue could fall short of previous estimates, due to declining prices and sales volumes.

The news weighed on other shares in the sector, with France Telecom slumping 1.1% and U.K.-based Vodafone dropping 2.9%.

On the upside, shares in financial service provider AXA jumped 2.9% after it published its strategic five-year plan, saying it was seeking average annual growth in underlying earnings per share of 10% to 2015. 

In London, the FTSE 100 was down 0.2% as shares in building-materials company Wolseley fell 1.5% in the wake of its third quarter earnings results.

The company said revenue in the quarter rose 1% to GBP3.27 billion, falling short of expectations for revenue of GBP3.33 billion.

Shares in real estate group Hammerson gained 1.3% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to ‘overweight’ from ‘equal-weight’.

The outlook for U.S. equity markets, meanwhile, was downbeat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a decline of 0.15%, S&P 500 futures indicated a drop of 0.1%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures shed 0.3%.  

Later in the day, U.S. payroll processing firm ADP was to publish its report on non-farm payrolls. Elsewhere, the Institute of Supply Management was to publish data on manufacturing activity.