Negative US consumer data drive stocks lower

Eurostoxx 50: 2,343.93 (–25.11) Frankfurt DAX: 6,046.75 (–8.52) Paris CAC: 3,174.29 (–46.17)EUROPEAN STOCKS slid from an 11-week high yesterday, as US consumer confidence fell and a cancelled finance ministers' meeting fuelled concern that the region's leaders may struggle to resolve the debt crisis at a summit today.

German chancellor Angela Merkel and fellow leaders return to Brussels today for a second summit in four days to discuss Europe’s bailout fund. Policy makers are jousting with banks over the size of losses they take on Greek bonds while deliberating over leveraging the fund after ruling out tapping the European Central Bank’s balance sheet.

“The market very much discounts that there will be some kind of result out of the meeting tomorrow,” said Espen Furnes, an Oslo-based fund manager at Storebrand Asset Management.

“Any delays or noise that suggests otherwise is a clear negative,” he said.

Stocks extended losses after the UK government said a meeting of EU finance ministers scheduled for today to decide on bank recapitalisation was cancelled. They pared some of their decline as it was confirmed that summits of the 27 EU leaders and euro-area heads of government will take place in Brussels as planned.

STMicroelectronics tumbled 7.7 per cent to €5.04 in Milan after saying net revenue will range from $2.15 billion to $2.3 billion.

Meyer Burger lost 13 per cent to 20.7 Swiss francs as Europe’s biggest solar-panel equipment maker said it will temporarily halt output at its unit in Switzerland.

Reckitt Benckiser fell 3.5 per cent to 3,325p. The maker of Lysol cleaners forecast lower sales and profit at its pharmaceutical division.

Novartis, Europe’s second-biggest pharmaceutical firm, lost 2.8 per cent to 50.35 Swiss francs after saying it plans to eliminate 2,000 jobs in Switzerland and the US.

Neste Oil Oyj surged 12 per cent to €8.97, the biggest gain since 2008. Finland’s only oil refiner was boosted by the improving outlook for its renewable fuels unit.

Swedbank, a lender in the Baltic states, rose 4.2 per cent to 90.50 kronor after reporting a 34 per cent jump in third-quarter profit and said costs will decline in 2012 as it adjusts to the economic slowdown. – (Bloomberg)