By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks slipped Tuesday,
stepping slightly away from more-than-seven-year highs reached
after better-than-expected German and Spanish data.
The Stoxx Europe 600 was down less than 1 point at 391.23, as
energy, financial, utility and telecom stocks eased. The index has
been floating close to its best level since 2007, and getting
closer to its record close of 450.50, reached in March 2000,
according to FactSet data.
Among the biggest decliners of the session was Barclays PLC ,
with shares down 2.7% and facing their sharpest fall in nearly two
months as fines and legal costs pushed the banking heavyweight to a
yearly net loss of 174 million pounds
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/barclays-posts-net-loss-on-fines-legal-costs-2015-03-03)($267.4
million). The drop put pressure on the U.K.'s FTSE 100 , which
turned 0.1% lower to 6,933.50.
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-pushes-to-record-high-but-glencore-barclays-fall-2015-03-03)
Germany's DAX 30 pared intraday gains to 2 points at 11,412.19,
but the small rise could still allow the index to post its 21st
record close of the year. Retail sales in Europe's largest economy
rose 2.9% in January over December, a reading that beat
expectations of a 0.3% decline. Sales climbed 5.3% on a 12-month
basis, the fastest growth rate since June 2010.
"Cheap oil, healthy income gains, low interest rates and fading
risks combined for a very strong start to the year for German
retailers," Berenberg senior economist Christian Schulz wrote
following the data. "Private consumption looks set to be a major
growth driver in 2015 and, at this rate, would put a severe upside
risk to our forecast of GDP growth of merely 0.3%
[quarter-over-quarter] in Q1."
Read: 'Legendary' German retail data signal Europe is turning a
corner.
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/legendary-german-retail-data-signal-europe-is-turning-a-corner-2015-03-03)
Spain's employment ministry, meanwhile, said the country's
jobless claims unexpectedly and sharply fell by a seasonally
adjusted 13,538 in February. Spain's IBEX 35 had risen after the
report, putting it on track for best close since April 2010, but in
afternoon trade gave up those gains to trade down 0.5% to
11,122.10.
France's CAC 40 edged down less than 2 points to 4,915.87 after
rising earlier in the session.
Meanwhile, Greece's Athex Composite rose 1% to 867.85, and
Russia's Micex index gained 2% to 1,818.82.
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