Investing.com - European stocks declined on Thursday, led by sharp losses in financial and mining stocks as a global selloff in bond markets continued.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 dropped 0.90%, France’s CAC 40 retreated 0.90%, while Germany’s DAX 30 declined 0.65%.
Markets were jittery following a fresh selloff in global bond markets on Tuesday. German 10-year bund yields surged, narrowing the gap with their U.S. counterparts.
Investors shrugged off official data on Wednesday showing that euro area gross domestic product grew 0.4% in the first three months of the year, up from 0.3% in the final quarter of 2014 but slightly below forecasts for growth of 0.5%.
On a year-over-year basis, the bloc's GDP grew 1.0% after a 0.9% expansion in the three months to December. Economists had forecast growth of 1.1%.
Financial stocks were broadly lower, as French lenders Societe Generale (PARIS:SOGN) and BNP Paribas (PARIS:BNPP) declined 0.79% and 0.52%, while Germany's Commerzbank (XETRA:CBKG) and Deutsche Bank (XETRA:DBKGn) retreated 0.59% and 1.21%.
Among peripheral lenders, Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo (MILAN:ISP) and Unicredit (MILAN:CRDI) lost 0.76% and 1.03% respectively, while Spanish banks BBVA (MADRID:BBVA) and Banco Santander (MADRID:SAN) dropped 0.44% and 0.66%.
Elsewhere, Telefonica (MADRID:TEF) SA plummeted 1.92% after Europe's second-largest phone company reported first-quarter revenue that exceeded analysts' estimates.
In London, commodity-heavy FTSE 100 declined 0.72%, weighed by sharp losses in the mining sector.
Shares in Fresnillo (LONDON:FRES) dropped 0.80% and Rio Tinto (LONDON:RIO) tumbled 1.85%, while rivals and Bhp Billiton (LONDON:BLT) and Anglo American (LONDON:AAL) plummeted 2.07% and 2.34% respectively.
In the financial sector, stocks were also mostly lower. Barclays (LONDON:BARC) and the Royal Bank of Scotland (LONDON:RBS) slid 0.44% and 0.48%, while HSBC Holdings (LONDON:HSBA) retreated 0.91%. Lloyds Banking (LONDON:LLOY) saw shares inch up just 0.02%.
On the upside, Mondi (LONDON:MNDI) led gains on the index, with shares rallying 1.24% after the paper maker reported an increase of 29% in first-quarter operating profit, boosted by rising sales and lower costs in its main European market.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a steady to lower open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.02% dip, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.01% downtick, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.09% loss.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish reports on producer prices and initial jobless claims.