LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Construction and bank stocks dragged European indices lower following weak results out of Lafarge Holcim and Credit Agricole, highlighting just how weak the earnings season has been relatively to expectations at the start of the year.
As of 08:45 the benchmark DJ Stoxx 600 was retreating 1.5 points or 0.45% to 333.24, the Dax was off by 49.16 points or 0.49% at 9,926.16 while Paris's Cac lost 23.52 points or 0.54% to 4,293.15.

The DJ Stoxx 600 construction sector gauge was down 1.08% at 376.98 and that for Banks by 0.95% to 141.13.

Overnight, Wall Street gave back almost all of the previous session's gains after a profit-warning from Macy's sent the stock 15% lower and blew a 2% hole in an index of retailers shares.

More significantly, market commentary highlighted how the US department store chain's poor results were reflective of lacklustre trends in consumer spend.

On Wednesday, investors on the Continent would look likely also be keeping close tabs on the Monetary Policy Committee's decision and minutes and what rate-setters had to say about their contingency plans in case of Brexit. The event would potentially be quite disruptive not just for UK markets but for the rest of Europe as well.

French consumer prices dipped at a 0.2% year-on-year rate in April following a 0.1% retreat in the month before, weighed down by falls in prices for manufactured goods. Core inflation on the other hand was steady.

As expected, Norway's central bank kept its main policy rate unchanged at 0.50%.

Dutch insurer Aegon reported a weaker than expected first quarter underlying pre-tax profit of €462m.

That came alongside a 71% drop in quarterly net income at French lender Credit Agricole.

LafargeHolcim's - the world's biggest cement maker - operating profits shrank more than expected in the first quarter following last year's merger.

Other asset classes were little changed, with euro/dollar drifting lower by 0.13% to 1.1410 and front month Brent crude futures up by 0.105% to $47.65 per barrel on the ICE.

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