European stocks fall after grim industrial data

European stocks fall after grim industrial data
European markets fall after grim industrial data, ahead of expected subdued US open

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/European-stocks-fall-after-apf-15509211.html?sec=topStories&pos=3&asset=&ccode=

Germany's DAX fell 23.89 points, or 0.5 percent, to 5,083.37 and the CAC-40 in France was 2.65 points, or 0.1 percent, lower at 3,332.29.

The European Union's statistics office Eurostat revealed that industrial production in the 16 countries that use the euro slumped by 1.9 percent in April from the previous month. That was way more than the 1 percent decline expected in the markets and stoked worries that the recession in the euro zone may not yet have bottomed out, as some had hoped.

"April's euro-zone industrial production figures provide few signs that the negative effects from destocking and the collapse in global trade are waning," said Ben May, European economist at Capital Economics.

Industrial production plays a particularly important role in the European economy and its recovery, whenever it comes, will provide a clear indication that the worst of the recession is over.

Sharply lower industrial output was blamed for the massive 2.5 percent quarterly fall in the euro zone's first quarter gross domestic product. The recession in Germany, the euro zone's biggest economy, was even greater as demand for its high-value exports, such as cars and heavy machinery, slumped amid the collapse in global trade.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 12.57 points, or 0.3 percent, at 4,449.30 with Barclays PLC down around 3 percent after it confirmed the sale of its global investment unit to U.S. fund manager BlackRock Inc. for $13.5 billion.