Selasa, 13 Januari 2009

Europe's losing streak stretches into fifth session

European shares fell for a fifth straight session Tuesday, with banks ranking as the sharpest decliners as investors continue to fret about prospects for the sector.

"I'm still underweight banks and I think that we haven't yet seen the second wave of bad debt problems. I think that banks could continue to struggle for some time," said Andrew Lynch, portfolio manager at Schroder Investment Management.
Chart of ST:SXXP
The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index (ST:SXXP: news , chart , profile ) fell 2.7% to 199.12, pulled down by sharp losses in the banking sector.
Mirroring the Stoxx 600 move, the French CAC-40 index (FR:1804546: news , chart , profile ) slumped 2.7% to 3,157.14, while the German DAX 30 index (DX:1876534: news , chart , profile ) fell 2.4% to 4,604.51 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX: news , chart , profile ) dropped 2.3% to 4,324.70.
Standing out among the banks, shares of Barclays (BCS:
Barclays PLC
Last: 10.88+0.13+1.21%
4:00pm 01/12/2009
Delayed quote data
Sponsored by:
BCS 10.88, +0.13, +1.2%) (UK:BARC: news , chart , profile ) retreated 11.5% and UBS (UBS:
UBS Ag
Last: 14.43-0.49-3.28%
4:02pm 01/12/2009
Delayed quote data
Sponsored by:
UBS 14.43, -0.49, -3.3%) (CH:002489948: news , chart , profile ) surrendered 7.1%.
Also in the sector, shares of Banco Santander (STD:
banco santander sa adr
Last: 8.96-0.34-3.66%
4:05pm 01/12/2009
Delayed quote data
Sponsored by:
STD 8.96, -0.34, -3.7%) fell 4.5% in Madrid. The Wall Street Journal reported that Spanish prosecutors are investigating how customers of Europe's second-largest bank lost more than 2.3 billion euros by investing with Bernard Madoff.
In Paris, BNP Paribas (FR:013110: news , chart , profile ) saw its shares drop 4.1%. La Tribune newspaper reported that BNP Paribas is considering not buying all of Fortis' insurance operations to appease minority shareholders of the Belgium-Dutch bank.
Taking a broader view of equities, Lynch said: "I can see that markets look cheap, but they don't look as cheap as they have done at really big bear-market bottoms."
Also Tuesday, Asian shares traded mostly lower, with resource stocks under pressure. See Asia Markets.
U.S. stocks on Monday sank to their lowest levels so far this year, on the cusp of what's likely to be an especially grim earnings season. See Monday's U.S. Market Snapshot.
Stock index futures pointed toward a weaker open Tuesday on Wall Street. See Indications.
Resources back playing defense
Shares of miners and oil producers also traded lower in Europe as crude-oil futures fell again, with the contract losing 99 cents to $36.61 a barrel in electronic trading on Tuesday. See London Markets.
"At this stage, the big drag on energy continues to be the growing impact of the economic recession on global energy consumption," noted energy analysts at MF Global.
Shares of French oil producer Total (FR:012027: news , chart , profile ) (TOT:
total s a sponsored adr
Last: 52.73-0.91-1.70%
4:04pm 01/12/2009
Delayed quote data
Sponsored by:
TOT 52.73, -0.91, -1.7%) fell 1.9%.
Additionally, resource-sector companies are just starting to detail how lower demand is feeding through to the bottom line. Aluminum giant Alcoa (AA:
alcoa inc com
Last: 10.06-0.75-6.94%
4:00pm 01/12/2009
Delayed quote data
Sponsored by:
AA 10.06, -0.75, -6.9%) kicked off the U.S. earnings season late Monday with a $1.2 billion fourth-quarter loss. See full story.
Shares of Rio Tinto (RTP:
rio tinto plc sponsored adr
Last: 92.44-7.67-7.66%
4:00pm 01/12/2009
Delayed quote data
Sponsored by:
RTP 92.44, -7.67, -7.7%) (UK:RIO: news , chart , profile ) , which owns Alcoa rival Rio Tinto Alcan, fell 8%, while Xstrata (UK:XTA: news , chart , profile ) declined 7%.
Elan, retail in focus
Chart of ELA
Also on the move, shares of Irish drugmaker Elan (ELN:
Elan Corporation, plc
Last: 8.03-0.36-4.29%
4:04pm 01/12/2009
Delayed quote data
Sponsored by:
ELN 8.03, -0.36, -4.3%) (UK:ELA: news , chart , profile ) jumped 5.5%.
The company said that it's hired Citigroup Global Markets to provide advice as management reviews strategic alternatives.
Potential options, Elan said in a statement Tuesday, include a minority investment, a strategic alliance or a merger or sale of the company.
Merger rumors swirled around Elan in the market last week.
Meanwhile, shares of German retailer Metro (DE:725750: news , chart , profile ) gave back early gains to trade down 1.2%.
The retailer said 2008 sales rose 5.9% to 68 billion euros ($90.2 billion), with 2008 pretax profit growth expected to be line with sales growth.
But shares of British supermarket group Tesco (UK:TSCO: news , chart , profile ) climbed 1.1%. Comparable sales in the U.K. excluding fuel rose 2.5% for the seven-week period to Jan.

By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch

Posted by busyet06 at 18.58
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