European Stocks Decline for Fourth Day Amid Iraq Violence
European stocks fell for a fourth day, the longest stretch in seven weeks, as violence in the Middle East escalated. U.S. index futures were little changed, while Asian shares declined.
GDF Suez SA dropped 3 percent after France said it will sell as much as 1.79 billion euros ($2.44 billion) of shares in the nation’s largest natural-gas distributor. Banco Comercial Portugues SA decreased 5.2 percent after saying it plans a 2.25-billion euro capital increase. Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA lost 1.5 percent as Corporacion Financiera Alba (ACS) is selling a 3.7 percent stake in Spain’s biggest builder.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.6 percent to 343.58 at 8:11 a.m. in London. The benchmark equity index has lost 1.3 percent in the past four days as investors weighed developments in Iraq, and economic data showed euro-area manufacturing weakened, while German business confidence dropped to the lowest level this year. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures retreated less than 0.1 percent today, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.4 percent.
Insurgents are firming their hold on parts of Iraq, according to U.S. officials. The Wall Street Journal reported that Syrian air raids inside the nation’s borders killed at least 50 people.
Ukraine Developments
The U.S. is preparing sanctions aimed at specific areas of the Russian economy, including energy and technology, as the Obama administration readies the next steps to pressure Russia over the Ukraine crisis, according to three people briefed on the plans. The sanctions would apply to technology used to explore, produce, transport or deliver natural gas, crude and or their refined products, two of the people said.
In Germany, market-research company GfK AG forecast that its consumer-confidence index will rise to 8.9 in July. That would be the highest reading since December 2006. The measure has not dropped since January 2013 and climbed to 8.6 in June.
A report at 8:30 a.m. in Washington may show U.S. gross domestic product shrank 1.8 percent in the first quarter, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists. That would be a deeper slowdown than the 1 percent contraction from a reading last month. Separate data may show durable-goods orders stalled in May.
GDF Suez retreated 3 percent to 20.18 euros. The French government has initiated a process to sell a 3.1 percent stake in the company, or 75 million shares, and may raise that to 3.6 percent through an accelerated institutional placement, Finance Minister Michel Sapin and Economic Minister Arnaud Montebourg said in a joint statement yesterday.
Capital Increase
Banco Comercial Portugues declined 5.2 percent to 15 euro cents. The country’s second-biggest publicly traded lender said it will issue 34.5 million new shares with a subscription price of 6.5 euro cents each.
ACS lost 1.5 percent to 33.67 euros. Holding company Alba said it is selling 11.6 million shares of the Madrid-based builder for 34.17 euros each.
Bunzl Plc fell 1 percent to 1,613 pence. The distributor of disposable tableware and food packaging said it bought Allshoes Benelux BV in the Netherlands and JPLUS Comercio e Distribuicao Ltda in Brazil. Bunzl also reported that first-half revenue climbed 6 percent at a constant foreign-exchange rate.
Source: bloomberg
