By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks slipped Monday, with
price declines in the mining group helping to pull the benchmark
Stoxx Europe 600 away from a record high.
The Stoxx Europe 600 was off 0.1% at 412.66, with industrial and
consumer goods and services shares pulled lower. The benchmark on
Friday ended at a record closing high of 412.93
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-stick-to-record-highs-set-for-best-week-since-january-2015-04-10).
On Monday, basic resources stocks were also under pressure after
analysts at Citigroup cut their stance on the iron-ore sector to
neutral from bullish, in line with major forecast revisions by
Citi's commodity team.
Among the hardest hit stocks was BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) , which
fell 2.2% as Citi cut its rating on the iron-ore mining heavyweight
to neutral from buy and moved it off its European focus list. Citi
also cut its rating on miner Anglo American PLC , to sell from
neutral. Anglo's shares fell 1.6%.
The pullback in mining shares weighed on the U.K.'s FTSE 100 ,
which lost 0.2% to 7,070.17, also stepping from a record closing
high set on Friday.
Elsewhere, Germany's DAX 30 swung slightly higher, by 0.1% to
12,386.92. Car maker Volkswagen AG was down 1.3% after a crisis
over leadership erupted Friday
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/volkswagen-faces-fight-over-future-leadership-2015-04-13),
with Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn vowing to resist efforts to
oust him.
In Paris, the CAC 40 shed 0.1% to 5,235.18.
Equity trading in Greece was closed for the Orthodox Easter
holiday.
Investors will begin to start to see more companies rolling
their financial updates. Analysts expected, as of Friday,
first-quarter earnings on the Stoxx 600 to rise 0.7% from the same
period last year, according to Thomson Reuters data. In a typical
quarter, 48% of companies beat per-share earnings estimates.
First-quarter revenue, however, is expected to drop 11.4% from the
year-earlier period.
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