Weak data send European stocks lower Carrefour jumps after narrowing first-half loss

Weak data send European stocks lower

Carrefour jumps after narrowing first-half loss

LONDON (MarketWatch) — European stock markets dropped on Thursday, following a raft of weak macroeconomic data, while investors also got jittery a day before a much anticipated speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. 

                                                                                                 By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch 

“There are concerns that we’re moving into a season of storms, and not just in relation to the weather, and markets are always more volatile in that period,” said Justin Urquhart Stewart, co-founder of Seven Investment Management.

“We can see that we have the German constitutional court decision, Dutch elections, the Jackson Hole meeting and the ECB meeting ahead of us, so there’s a series of potential mines that could go off,” he added. He stressed, however, that “we are seeing some fundamental changes since months ago,” when people feared Greece would exit the euro zone.

The world’s biggest advertising firm, WPP PLC, UK:WPP -2.83% posted one of the biggest losses in the pan-European index, off 3%, after cutting its revenue forecast for 2012 and reporting mixed first-ha

Pointing in the other direction, French food retailer Carrefour SA FR:CA +7.59%  jumped 7.6% as it narrowed its first-half loss from the year-ago-period, even as operating profit dropped because of pressure on key markets.

Bernanke

For the broader European stock markets, investors pulled out of equities as they awaited Bernanke’s Friday speech at the Jackson Hole, Wyo. meeting, where any comments about the economy and prospects of further stimulus will be scrutinized.

“Bernanke is not going to come out with any policy announcements yet. He has the ability to do much more quantitative easing than anyone else, because it’s a reserved currency, but he won’t do it until he necessarily has to,” Urquhart Stewart said.

“We will see some political changes being made before he commits more money,” he said.

Weak Japanese retail sales further added to market worries, underpinning concerns of slower global growth. See: 

Meanwhile in Europe, the number of unemployed Germans grew by a seasonally adjusted 9,000 in August, above analysts’ expectations of an 8,000 rise. 

The European Commission said its euro-zone economic-sentiment indicator fell to 86.1 in August from 87.9 in July, as all the sector indexes declined.

In Italy, stocks erased a loss after the Treasury succeeded in mostly lowering borrowing costs at 5- and 10-year bond auctions.