By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks fell Monday, with poor
data from Asia and bleak comments about the eurozone prompting
investors to push the equity market away from multiyear highs.
In addition to downbeat updates from Asia's two largest
economies, figures from Germany released Monday showed industrial
production in Europe's biggest economy expanded less than expected
in October. Output rose by 0.2%, missing a 0.3% forecast from
economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
Ewald Nowotny, a member of the governing council at the European
Central Bank, said Monday the eurozone is undergoing "massive
weakening" and that inflation could fall even further in the first
quarter of 2015. The eurozone is the weak spot in the global
economy, and it's worth the ECB discussing government-bond
purchases to aid the currency union, Nowotny said, according to
media reports.
Markets: The euro (EURUSD) scraped its lowest level against the
dollar since August 2012 following Nowotny's comments in Frankfurt.
The shared currency fell to as low as $1.2247 before slightly
recovering to $1.2293 versus $1.2289 on Friday. Germany's DAX 30
finished 0.7% lower at 10,014.99.
The Stoxx Europe 600 declined 0.7% to 348.61, with all sectors
finishing in the red. The pan-European index on Friday jumped by
1.8% to 350.97, marking its strongest closing level since early
January 2008.
But Monday's losses followed a report showing imports into China
-- a major buyer of commodities -- unexpectedly fell in November by
6.7%. That compares with expectations for 3% growth. Among miners,
Anglo American PLC fell 1.7%, Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) gave up 0.3%, and
Glencore PLC moved 0.5% lower.
Oil and gas producers as a whole fell 2.1% as crude-oil prices
continued to crumble.
"While lower commodity prices may have placed a downward bias on
the import number, the extent of the negative surprise, coupled
with the overvalued [yuan], suggests there was in fact a real
element of much slower domestic demand," said Sue Trinh, senior
currency strategist, at RBC Capital Markets, in a note.
Meanwhile, the Japanese economy during the third quarter shrank
more than initially estimated, contracting an annualized 1.9% from
the previous three-month period.
In Paris, the CAC 40 declined 1% to 4,375.48, while the U.K.'s
FTSE 100 fell 1.1% to 6,672.15.
Italy's FTSE MIB was pulled 0.7% lower to 19,951.15. After
trading closed on Friday, Standard & Poor's cut Italy's long-
and short-term credit rating to a notch above junk status, to
BBB-/A-3 from BBB/A-2. The move reflects recurring weakness in
Italy's real and nominal GDP performance, which the agency said is
"undermining the sustainability of the country's public debt."
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