European stocks remain lower as growth worries persist; Dax down 0.33%

Investing.com - European stocks remained lower on Wednesday, as concerns over the worsening of the euro zone's debt crisis and over the outlook for global economic growth continued to dampened market sentiment.

During European afternoon trade, the EURO STOXX 50 dropped 0.54%, France’s CAC 40 fell 0.29%, while Germany’s DAX 30 slid 0.33%.

Sentiment weakened after Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the euro group of finance ministers said the euro value was “dangerously high” and posed a threat to the region’s economic recovery.

Separately, the World Bank sharply revised on Tuesday its 2013 outlook for the world economy to 2.4% from its last forecast of 3% in June, saying an unexpectedly sluggish recovery in developed countries was to blame for slow global growth.

Financial stocks were broadly lower, as shares in French lenders BNP Paribas and Societe Generale plummeted 1.51% and 4.06%, while Germany's Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank tumbled 1.47% and 1.44% respectively.

Peripheral lenders also posted sharp losses, with Spanish banks BBVA and Banco Santander dropping 0.39% and 0.78%, while Italy's Unicredit and Intesa Sanpaolo plunged 3.06% and 3.07%.

Elsewhere, Barry Callebaut retreated 1.19% after reporting lower-than-expected first-quarter sales of CHF1.25 billion.

In London, FTSE 100 declined 0.63%, as U.K. lenders tracked their European counterparts sharply lower.

HSBC Holdings slipped 0.13% and Barclays plummeted 2.17%, while the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking plunged 2.75% and 3.77%.

Meanwhile, oil and gas major Anglo American remained sharply lower, diving 2.78%, after workers at South Africa's Rustenburg operations refused to go underground in a protest at company plans to close mines. Rival BP dropped 0.56%.

Also on the downside, mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto tumbled 0.74% and 1.27%, while copper producers Xstrata and Kazakhmys plunged 3.19% and 2.68% respectively.

Separately, ARM Holdings, whose chips power Apple’s iPhones, remained in negative territory for the second consecutive session, sliding 1.31%, after Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. cut its rating on the stock to underperform from market perform, saying the company’s current share price reflects an unrealistic assessment of its potential to penetrate markets and its capacity to increase royalty rates.

On Tuesday, the stock was cut to equal weight at Morgan Stanley.

In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a moderately lower open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.35% drop, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.23% fall, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.08% loss.

Also Wednesday, official data showed that consumer price inflation in the euro zone remained unchanged in December, at an annualized rate of 2.2%, in line with expectations.

Core consumer price inflation, which excludes food, energy, alcohol, and tobacco, ticked up to 1.5% last month, from 1.4% in November, as anticipated.