LONDON (ShareCast) - - Europe down as markets wait for ECB move
- L’Oreal plunges after missing targets
- US growth revised upwards

FTSE 100: -0.56%
Dax 30:+0.11%
Stoxx 600: -0.17%
Cac 40: -0.51%
Ibex 35: -0.37%
FTSE MIB: -0.33%

European stocks were mostly down on Wednesday as investors waited for intervention by the European Central Bank (ECB) in the ongoing Eurozone debt crisis.

The ECB said today that its President, Mario Draghi, would not be attending the Jackson Hole economic symposium, cancelling a previous commitment to attend the conference taking place this week. The implication is that Europe will not begin buying of the debt of Spain and Italy in the secondary market before the next ECB policy meeting on September 6th.

In the US, Commerce Department figures revealed the American economy had grown at a 1.7% annualised rate between April and June, better than the initial estimate of 1.5%.

COMPANIES

The strongest sector on the Stoxx Europe 600 index was chemicals, which rose 0.36%, the weakest was basic resources which fell 1.62%.

French cosmetics giant L’Oreal dropped 4.4% after earnings missed analysts’ expectations.

Also in Paris, Bouygues, the building, media and technology conglomerate, fell 9% after warning profits would drop at its phones division.

OTHER MARKETS

The euro dropped 0.19% against the dollar to stand at $1.2541 by 16:41.

Futures contracts on a barrel of Brent crude were down 0.02% by 16:42 at $112.56.

BS

Email this article to a friend

or share it with one of these popular networks:

• DIGG
• FACEBOOK
• STUMBLEUPON
• MIXX
• YAHOO BUZZ
• DELICIOUS
• REDDIT
• NEWSVINE