Commodities Stocks Lead Declines

Commodities Stocks Lead Declines

European stocks headed lower Monday, hit by profit-taking in the oil and mining sectors.

(Source Wall Street Journal) The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down 1.6% at 210.83. London's FTSE 100 Index was off 1.8% to 4358.32, Frankfurt's DAX fell 2% to 4965.38, and the CAC-40 Index in Paris was down 1.9% at 3262.24.

The oil market has had the longest bull move with no serious retracement since January/July last year, said Simon Denham at capital Spreads, boosting oil equity stocks. "It must be mentioned that there is now room for a bit of a fall." Also gold is falling in harmony with everything else Monday morning, hitting the mining stocks.

"The weakness of the dollar has helped in recent weeks to send the precious metal higher," said Mr. Denham, "but there is a distinct feeling that investors now have more important things to worry about than getting sucked into another yellow metal bubble."

Shares in Royal Dutch Shell slid 2.9% while shares in ArcelorMittalwere 3.6% lower. The Dow Jones pan-European Stoxx 600 oil & gas index traded down 2% to 299.7, while the Dow Jones pan-European Stoxx 600 basic resource index was off 3.1% to 368.7.
Among other stocks to watch, TomTomdeclined 6.6% after the navigation-products maker said it plans to raise about $607 million by selling new shares to alleviate a heavy debt burden.

In Asia, share markets were mostly lower in subdued Monday trade, with energy and mining stocks falling. Japan's Nikkei index closed down 1%, while South Korea's Kospi Composite closed 1.1% lower. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was last seen 1.9% lower. Read Article... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124504751817214641.html

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.