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European markets in mixed mood
LONDON, England (CNN) -- European markets ended mixed Wednesday as early declines on Wall Street countered a strong performance by export-sensitive stocks after the euro eased off four-year highs. London's FTSE 100 fell 0.6 percent at 3,975 and the Paris CAC-40 slipped 0.1 percent to 2,961.83, while the Frankfurt Xetra Dax was up 0.1 percent to 2,913.02 in late trading (the German market was set to close at 1800 GMT). The wider FTSE Eurotop 300 index of pan-European blue chips was virtually unchanged, up 0.1 percent at 817.19. Wall Street was trading lower following a government report showing an unexpected drop in U.S. retail sales in April, largely due to the biggest drop in gasoline sales since October 2001. (Full story) "I think we need to see retail sales for May and June and before that the preliminary May consumer confidence survey on Friday to see if there has been a postwar rebound," Chloe Magnier, economist at French brokerage CIC, told Reuters. "If those don't show a progression this would become truly worrying as without consumers, the e is nothing left at the present time to sustain an economic rebound in the U.S." European markets recovered from initial declines -- which had been prompted by weak results at Lufthansa and negative broker comments about insurance stocks -- after the euro eased back from four-year highs against the dollar. (Full story) There have been growing concerns that a strong single currency, which makes European products more expensive to buy aboard, hold soon put a dent in corporate profits. Among the biggest exporters are auto and chemical companies, which have seen there stocks price come under pressure as the euro advanced against the dollar. However, German drug and chemical group Bayer was up 4.6 percent to 17.36 euros and rival BASF was 3 percent higher at 37.37 euros in late Frankfurt trading as the euro eased below 1.15 against the dollar. Also advancing at were utility and energy group RWE, which was up 1.7 percent to 25.12 euros in late trading, and Spanish oil company Repsol, which gained 0.1 percent to 13.40 euros. Both posted strong earnings Wednesday. RWE, Germany's second biggest utility, reported an operating profit of 1.75 billion euros and reiterated an optimistic forecast for full-year figures. Repsol said it more than doubled its first-quarter net profit compared with last year, due to higher oil prices. Germany's Lufthansa reversed earlier losses to advance 1.1 percent to 9.25 euros in late Frankfurt trading after reporting a higher than expected first-quarter loss. (Full story) The AEX index in Amsterdam rose 0.1 percent and Milan's MIB30 index gained 0.4 percent, while the SMI in Zurich added 0.2 percent. In the U.S. Wednesday, some discouraging retail numbers and a lackluster earnings report from Applied Materials the previous night soured sentiment in early trading. At 1400 GMT, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 46.71 points to 8632.54 and the Nasdaq composite slipped 6.90 points to 1532.78, while the S&P 500 index lost 4.19 points to 938.11. (Full report)
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