Investing.com – European stocks remained down in afternoon trade on Wednesday as fears that Greece's debt problems may spread to other euro zone countries persisted, and ahead of key U.S. jobs data
France’s CAC 40 was down 0.91%; Britain's FTSE 100 dropped 0.52%; Germany's DAX fell 0.18%; Spain's IBEX 35 shed 1.5% and the EURO STOXX 50 was down 0.44%
Banks were among the worst performers, with Credit Agricole shedding 1.78% and BBVA losing 2.47%.
The losses on the European markets came as the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, warned that everyone had to remain "extremely vigilant" to the risk of the crisis spreading to heavily indebted countries like Spain and Portugal.
Earlier Wednesday, official data showed that retail sales in the euro zone were flat in March, defying expectations of positive growth, in a further sign that consumer spending was not yet spurring economic growth.
Across the Atlantic, the outlook for U.S. markets was mixed: Dow Jones Industrial Average futures indicated a fall of 0.14% and S&P 500 Index futures pointed to a drop of 0.11%, but Nasdaq 100 Index futures indicated a gain of 0.11%.
Later in the day, the payroll processing firm ADP was set to publish key data on U.S. nonfarm employment change and the Institute of Supply Management, an industry group, was scheduled to release a closely watched monthly survey of U.S. purchasing managers, excluding the manufacturing sector.
France’s CAC 40 was down 0.91%; Britain's FTSE 100 dropped 0.52%; Germany's DAX fell 0.18%; Spain's IBEX 35 shed 1.5% and the EURO STOXX 50 was down 0.44%
Banks were among the worst performers, with Credit Agricole shedding 1.78% and BBVA losing 2.47%.
The losses on the European markets came as the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, warned that everyone had to remain "extremely vigilant" to the risk of the crisis spreading to heavily indebted countries like Spain and Portugal.
Earlier Wednesday, official data showed that retail sales in the euro zone were flat in March, defying expectations of positive growth, in a further sign that consumer spending was not yet spurring economic growth.
Across the Atlantic, the outlook for U.S. markets was mixed: Dow Jones Industrial Average futures indicated a fall of 0.14% and S&P 500 Index futures pointed to a drop of 0.11%, but Nasdaq 100 Index futures indicated a gain of 0.11%.
Later in the day, the payroll processing firm ADP was set to publish key data on U.S. nonfarm employment change and the Institute of Supply Management, an industry group, was scheduled to release a closely watched monthly survey of U.S. purchasing managers, excluding the manufacturing sector.