European Markets Dropped On Continued Greek Concerns

(RTTNews) - The majority of the European markets ended Tuesday's session in the red. Investor sentiment was impacted by continued concerns about Greece. The country is expected to make a 300 million euros payment to the International Monetary Fund next week.

Greece's government on Monday ruled out imposing controls over capital flows over the upcoming long weekend, after an opposition lawmaker suggested the move if the country fails to strike a deal with its creditors soon.

Gabriel Sakellaridis, the spokesman for the Greek government, reportedly said that the speculation of imposing capital controls was "unfounded and malicious."

Sentiment was also impacted by political uncertainty in Spain, where Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's Popular Party suffered its worst result in 20 years in a municipal election, as the voters punished his government for four years of austerity and a raft of corruption scandals before a general election due in November.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks decreased by 1.03 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, lost 0.88 percent.

The DAX of Germany declined by 1.61 percent and the CAC 40 of France fell by 0.66 percent. The FTSE of the U.K. dropped by 1.18 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished lower by 0.86 percent.

In Frankfurt, E.ON declined by 3.38 percent and RWE fell by 2.82 percent.

Deutsche Bank decreased by 2.47 percent and Commerzbank lost 2.25 percent.

In Paris, Total dropped by 1.51 percent and Technip fell by 1.32 percent.

Vivendi bucked the overall trend, with an increase of 1.41 percent.

In London, Ryanair jumped by 5.38 percent, after reporting a strong growth in full-year profit. Easyjet also climbed by 1.57 percent.

Weir Group increased by 3.36 percent and Royal Mail added 3.57 percent.

Mining stocks turned in a weak performance, due to falling commodity prices. Fresnillo sank by 3.54 percent and Randgold Resources dropped by 3.52 percent. Anglo American declined by 2.45 percent and Antofagasta lost 2.39 percent.

Altice sank by 6.55 percent in Amsterdam. The company was reportedly involved in talks with Time Warner Cable about a possible combination. Time Warner Cable has agreed to acquired by Charter Communications.

British retailers posted strong growth in sales this month and their outlook for sales and orders improved at an even stronger pace in the year to June, the quarterly Distributive Trades Survey from the Confederation of British Industry showed Tuesday.

A balance of 51 percent said sales increased in May, up from the prior month's balance of 12 percent and expectations of 40 percent.

Switzerland's employment increased in the first quarter largely driven by the job creation in the tertiary sector, the Federal Statistical Office said Tuesday. Employment increased to 4.22 million in the first quarter from 4.19 million in the same period of last year. But it fell from 4.23 million reported in the fourth quarter.

Largely reflecting a pullback in orders for transportation equipment, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing a modest decrease in new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in the month of April.

The report said durable goods orders dipped by 0.5 percent in April, with the modest decrease matching economists' consensus estimate.

Home prices in major U.S. metropolitan areas continued to show notable annual growth in the month of March, according to a report released by Standard & Poor's on Tuesday.

The report said the 20-City Composite Home Price Index rose 5.0 percent year-over-year in March, unchanged from the annual growth seen in February. Economists had expected the rate of growth to slow to 4.6 percent.

Following the pullback seen in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing that U.S. new home sales rebounded by more than expected in the month of April. The report said new home sales climbed 6.8 percent to an annual rate of 517,000 in April from the revised March rate of 484,000.

Economists had expected new home sales to rise to a rate of 509,000 from the 481,000 originally reported for the previous month.

Consumer confidence in the U.S. improved modestly in May after declining sharply in April, the Conference Board revealed in a report released on Tuesday. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index rose to 95.4 in May from a downwardly revised 94.3 in April.

Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to dip to 95.0 from the 95.2 originally reported for the previous month.