EUROPE MARKETS: European Stocks Fail To Hold Gains And Book Biggest Weekly Decline In 8 Months

By William Watts, MarketWatch

Italy notches worst weekly decline in almost 2 years

European equities on Friday finished the day lower as a rally faltered, helping to cement the sharpest weekly drop from the most of the main eurozone benchmarks since February. For Italy's stock index it was the worst week in about two years.

How are the indexes performing?

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index gave back its initial gains to close down 0.2% to 358.95, pushing the gauge to its worst week since Feb. 9, with a weekly drop of 4.6%, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

London's FTSE 100 stock index closed down 0.2% to 6,995.91, also marking its steepest weekly drop since February, while France's CAC 40 stock index fell 0.2% to 5,095.98m and the German DAX slipped 0.1% to 11,523.81.

All of the major indexes marked their steepest weekly declines since early February.

Meanwhile, Italy's FTSE MIB ended the day down 0.5% to 19,255.98, booking a weekly loss of 5.4% amid the global equities rout and worries about a likely budget clash between the country's government and the European Union. The weekly decline for Italy's stock benchmark was its worst since the period ended Nov. 4 of 2016, according to FactSet data.

What's driving the market?

Friday's moves, which couldn't be sustained, came amid a pause in the heavy bout of U.S.-led selling that many investors tied to a rise in government bond yields that triggered a selloff in stocks around the world. Europe's trading action follows a rebound by Asian stocks (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stocks-in-japan-and-china-fall-but-losses-at-least-slow-down-2018-10-11), which suffered a heavy weekly drubbing. U.S. stock-index futures were pointing to sharp gains (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stocks-set-for-sharp-rebound-but-still-on-track-for-worst-week-since-march-2018-10-12) for Wall Street.

What are analysts saying?

Traders are eager to square up their books ahead of the weekend. The global equity rout originated in the U.S., and the moves continue to be U.S. driven, and European dealers are eager to cash in their holdings as Wall Street still has several hours more trading left," wrote David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK in a Friday research note.

What stocks are moving?

Shares of Gucci parent Kering (KER.FR) rose 2% in Paris, while LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis (LVMUY) rose 0.2%. In London, shares of Burberry Group PLC (BRBY.LN) climbed by 1.2%.

Oil company Total SA (TOT) fell 0.5%, but BP (BP.LN) rose 0.7%, and shares of Rio Tinto PLC (RIO.LN) rose 1.3%, while Glencore PLC's stock (GLEN.LN) advanced by 0.8%.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 12, 2018 17:18 ET (21:18 GMT)

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