European Markets Pulled Back On Greek Uncertainty

(RTTNews) - The majority of the European markets ended Thursday's session to the downside. With time running short, Greece and its international creditors have been holding a number of meetings in an attempt to come to a solution. However, it appears that differences remain between both sides and any deal would still need to be approved by the Greek and German parliaments.

Lingering differences were confirmed by Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who said on Thursday that Greece did not consent to the proposal being put to finance ministers' consideration.

"We don't have an agreement from the Greeks on that," Dijsselbloem said as he arrived for the Eurogroup meeting. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble also said there was no progress in talks.

Greece faces a EUR 1.6 billion payment to the IMF on June 30 and Greek officials have suggested that the payment cannot be made without further aid. If a deal is not reached, Greece cannot honor the payment due to the lender, leading to a default that could pave the way for the country's exit from Eurozone and even from the EU.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks closed unchanged, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, lost 0.41 percent.

The DAX of Germany climbed by 0.02 percent, but the CAC 40 of France fell by 0.07 percent. The FTSE of the U.K. declined by 0.54 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished lower by 0.40 percent.

In Frankfurt, RWE declined by 1.85 percent and E.ON lost 1.47 percent.

Deutsche Bank climbed by 1.23 percent and Commerzbank added 0.75 percent.

In Paris, Vivendi fell by 2.34 percent. The media giant said it now owns 14.9 percent of Telecom Italia's ordinary shares and has thus replaced Telefonica as the company's largest shareholder.

Technip dropped by 2.20 percent and Total weakened by 0.14 percent.

In London, Sage Group gained 3.88 percent, after Exane BNP raised its price target on the stock.

Tesco climbed by 0.90 percent, on reports that private equity firms have expressed interest in the company's South Korean assets.

Admiral Group dropped by 1.61 percent, after Citigroup downgraded its rating to "Sell" from "Neutral."

Hennes & Mauritz fell by 3.24 percent in Stockholm. The apparel retailer reported lower margins for the second quarter, and warned of higher costs.

German consumer confidence is set to fall in July as unresolved debt crisis in Greece weigh on the economic outlook. Nonetheless, it remains at an elevated level as income expectations reached a new post-reunification record. The forward-looking consumer sentiment index dropped to 10.1 in July from 10.2 in June, survey data from market research group GfK showed Thursday. The score was expected to remain at 10.2.

The leading index for France, which measures the future economic activity, inched up in April, helped by large positive contributions from building permits and stock prices, survey results from the Conference Board showed Thursday. The Conference Board leading economic index edged up 0.1 percent in April, following a revised 0.4 percent increase in March. Out of the seven components, five contributed positively to the index in April.

British retailers said their sales growth slowed in June but it is expected to improve next month, the latest monthly Distributive Trades Survey from the Confederation of British Industry showed Thursday. About 44 percent of retailers said sales volumes increased from a year ago, while 15 percent said they were down, giving a balance of +29 percent for June. It was expected to drop to 35 percent.

Personal spending in the U.S. rose by more than expected in the month of May, the Commerce Department revealed in a report on Thursday, with spending seeing its strongest growth in nearly six years.

The Commerce Department said personal spending jumped by 0.9 percent in May following a revised 0.1 percent uptick in April. Spending had been expected to increase by 0.7 percent after originally being reported as nearly flat in the previous month.

The sharp increase in spending came amid continued growth in personal income, which rose by 0.5 percent in May, matching the upwardly revised increase seen in April. Economists had expected income to rise by 0.4 percent, which would have matched the growth originally reported for the previous month.

First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged slightly higher in the week ended June 20th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday. The report said initial jobless claims inched up to 271,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level of 268,000.

Economists had been expecting jobless claims to rise to 273,000 from the 267,000 originally reported for the previous week.