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European markets fall back
LONDON, England (CNN) -- European markets inched lower in Tuesday afternoon trading on concerns corporate earnings and economic data could continue to knock investor sentiment after the Iraq war ends. London's FTSE 100 lost 0.7 percent to 3,906.6 and Frankfurt's electronically traded Xetra Dax was down 0.2 percent to 2,802.98, while the CAC 40 blue chip index in Paris dipped 0.1 percent to 2,933.33. The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, fell 0.5 percent. Nokia, the world's biggest mobile phone company, fell 2.5 percent to 14.38 euros after wireless chipmaker RF Micro Devices said demand for its products was weaker in the fourth quarter. Rival chipmakers also slipped sharply. STMicroelectronics (PSTM), Europe's biggest, fell 1.7 percent to 18.10 euros and Philips Electronics, the continent's third-largest semiconductor maker, dropped 2.7 percent to 16.72 euros. EADS (PEAD), which owns 80 percent of commercial jet maker Airbus, fell 1.3 percent to 8.20 euros after U.S. Airways cut an order for planes from Airbus as airlines continued to delay deliveries amid the industry's worst downturn. At one point the Dow Jones industrial average surged 220 points on Monday but ended the day up just 0.3 percent. "There was simply no reason why a 220-point rally could possibly be sustained in the wake of such flaky economic data and the fact that an uncomfortably high percentage of S&P 500 companies will report lower first quarter results than last time," David Buik of Cantor Index wrote in a note to investors. "These facts cannot be ignored despite the high level of euphoria of the forthcoming victory in Iraq by the coalition forces. The rally in Europe (on Monday) seemed like madness to many observers." But Wall Street was expected to open higher later in the session. British retailer Marks & Spencer (MKS) fell 4 percent to 283.3 pence after announcing a slowdown in sales. Loss-making insurer Swiss Life rose 2.8 percent to 65 Swiss francs after saying it would return to profitability in 2003. (Full story) France Telecom (PFTE), Europe's second-largest phone company, rose 3.8 percent to 21.34 euros as the state-controlled group continued to sell shares to refinance its balance sheet. The AEX index in Amsterdam gained 0.3 percent and Milan's MIB30 index rose 0.6 percent, while the SMI in Zurich was little changed. In the U.S. on Monday, stocks got a big lift from the news out of Iraq, but the gains had all but faded by the close as some investors started to look beyond the war. The Dow Jones inched up 0.3 percent, or 23.26 points, to 8300.41, while the S&P 500 index added just 1.08 points to 879.93. The Nasdaq composite climbed 0.4 percent, or 6.00 points, to 1389.51.
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