European Stocks Extend Losses After Spain Sells Bonds at Auction

By Sarah Jones - Nov 17, 2011 4:49 PM GMT+0700
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A trading board displays the day's volume on the WIG20 index, at the Warsaw stock exchange in Warsaw, Poland. The Stoxx 600 declined 0.4 percent at 236.14. Photographer: John Guillemin/Bloomberg

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Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Richard Corbett, adviser to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, discusses the sovereign-debt crisis. He speaks from Brussels with Francine Lacqua on Bloomberg Television's "Countdown." (Source: Bloomberg)

European stocks extended losses after borrowing costs rose at a Spanish government bond sale. U.S. index futures and Asian shares were little changed.

BNP Paribas SA and Credit Agricole SA (ACA) paced losses in banks, both dropping at least 2.5 percent. ASML Holding NV (ASML) slid 1.6 percent after Applied Materials Inc. forecast earnings that missed analyst estimates. Centrica Plc (CNA) declined 1.6 percent after the utility warned profits may fall short of forecasts.

The Stoxx 600 slid 1 percent to 234.59 at 9:48 a.m. in London as Spanish 10-year bond yields rose to a euro-era record and French five-year yields jumped to a six-month high. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in December added less than 0.1 percent and the MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 0.1 percent.

“It’s clear that there’s no escaping the gravity of the European debt story as central bankers continue their struggle to find an appropriate resolution,” said Harley Salt, head of sales trading at IG Markets in Melbourne. “Bond yields can expect to remain very much in focus.”

The Stoxx 600 closed unchanged yesterday, after swinging between gains and losses at least 10 times during the day, as the European Central Bank bought Italian and Spanish bonds and Mario Monti became Italy’s new prime minister. The gauge has lost 19 percent from this year’s high on Feb. 17 as Greece teeters on the edge of a default and other indebted nations grapple with record bond yields.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Jones in London at sjones35@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net