European Markets Weakened Further On Global Growth Concerns

(RTTNews) - The European markets finished solidly in negative territory again Tuesday, extending their losing streak to a seventh session. Concerns about global growth prospects continue to plague the markets. Crude oil prices attempted to stabilize today, following yesterday's pullback, but energy stocks still finished in the red. Bank stocks also continued to get hammered due to concerns over troubled loans.

The UK central bank should take action to tackle risks to financial stability sooner than later if lending starts to grow faster than national output, Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe said Tuesday.

"Given the vulnerability that already exists and the powerful drivers in the UK, particularly the housing market, if credit began again to grow faster than GDP, I would want to think about action to manage the financial stability risks sooner rather than later," Cunliffe said in a speech at a British Property Federation conference in London.

The household debt situation has become sustainable after a correction since the financial crisis, the policymaker noted.

"Household balance sheets, however, remain large by historic standards," Cunliffe said. "The position is sensitive to the unwinding, were it to occur, of some of the forces that pushed rates down over the past 40 years."

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks decreased 1.75 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, lost 1.81 percent.

The DAX of Germany dropped 1.11 percent and the CAC 40 of France fell 1.69 percent. The FTSE of the U.K. declined 0.88 percent, but the SMI of Switzerland finished lower by 2.27 percent.

In Frankfurt, Deutsche Bank decreased 3.91 percent, after the lender reassured investors on its finances, saying it has sufficient cash to pay its riskiest debts. Commerzbank also closed down by 3.91 percent.

RWE dropped 4.52 percent and peer E.ON lost 3.48 percent.

ThyssenKrupp weakened by 3.27 percent and Salzgitter surrendered 6.71 percent.

Volkswagen declined 2.32 percent and BMW fell 1.96 percent. Daimler also ended the session lower by 0.35 percent.

In Paris, Societe Generale decreased 4.38 percent and Credit Agricole tumbled 4.54 percent. BNP Paribas also fell 3.56 percent.

Technip declined 5.04 percent and Total finished lower by 3.58 percent.

In London, tour operator TUI Group dropped 1.46 percent after reporting a narrower first-quarter loss on increased revenue, driven by strong performances in Northern Region and Cruises.

Anglo American tumbled 11.25 percent, a day after its chief executive warned the mining industry will not revive anytime soon. Antofagasta sank 9.37 percent and Glencore dropped 8.13 percent. BHP Billiton declined 5.85 percent and Rio Tinto surrendered 4.86 percent.

Standard Chartered decreased 5.55 percent and Barclays lost 4.67 percent. Royal Bank of Scotland fell 2.21 percent and Lloyds Banking Group weakened by 2.07 percent. HSBC also closed lower by 1.36 percent.

Royal Dutch Shell declined 4.01 percent and BP lost 2.75 percent. BG Group fell 6.50 percent and Tullow Oil sank 8.03 percent.

Shares of Vestas Wind Systems surged 7.52 percent in Copenhagen after the company raised its dividend and forecast record sales for 2016.

Swedbank AB fell 5.68 percent in Stockholm after the bank said it was replacing Chief Executive Michael Wolf with immediate effect.

Germany's industrial production dropped unexpectedly in December, figures published by Destatis revealed Tuesday. Industrial production fell 1.2 percent from November, confounding expectations for an increase of 0.5 percent. This was the second consecutive fall in production. Output had decreased 0.1 percent in November.

German exports and imports set new highs in 2015, leading to the biggest ever trade surplus, preliminary data from Destatis showed Tuesday.

Exports rose 6.4 percent to EUR 1,195.8 billion and imports increased 4.2 percent to EUR 948.0 billion. The trade surplus grew to a record EUR 247.8 billion from the previous peak of EUR 213.6 billion.

The U.K. merchandise trade deficit narrowed in December despite exports falling for the third straight month, suggesting that weak trade dragged economic growth at the end of 2015. The visible trade deficit decreased to GBP 9.9 billion from GBP 11.5 billion in November, preliminary data from the Office for National Statistics showed Tuesday.

Economists had forecast a shortfall of GBP 10.4 billion in December. A year ago, the deficit was GBP 13.5 billion.

Like-for-like sales in the United Kingdom spiked 2.6 percent on year in January, the British Retail Consortium said on Tuesday. That shattered forecasts for an increase of 0.3 percent following the 0.1 percent gain in December.

With a drop in inventories of durable goods more than offsetting an uptick in inventories of non-durable goods, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing a modest decrease in U.S. wholesale inventories in the month of December.

The report said wholesale inventories edged down by 0.1 percent in December after sliding by a revised 0.4 percent in November. The modest drop in inventories matched economist estimates.