Europe down on weak manufacturing and corporate earnings

During this week in Europe the Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 1.3 per cent as euro-area manufacturing shrank and corporate earnings weakened. In the US, a Commerce Department report showed that the world’s biggest economy was helped by a pickup in consumer spending, a rebound in government outlays and gains in residential construction

This week, the French CAC 40 index stood out among individual country indexes, up 0.7% to 3,435.09, as shares of oil major Total SA rose 0.7 per cent and drug maker Sanofi SA added 2 per cent. In the UK the FTSE 100 index ended marginally higher at 5,806.71. In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 index rose 0.4 per cent as industrial conglomerate Siemens AG rose 0.9 per cent and chemical group BASF SE added 0.8 per cent.

Late on Thursday the International Monetary Fund warned that risks to Portugal’s bailout plan have “increased markedly” due to lower tax revenues, increasing anti-austerity protests and the likelihood that it will remain in recession in 2013. Ratings agency Standard & Poors lowered its view on French banks.

Asian stocks fell this week, with the regional index erasing the month’s gains, as companies including Fanuc Corp. and China Unicom Ltd. reported earnings that missed estimates amid global growth concerns. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 1.6 per cent this week to 121.54. Shares had risen as central banks in Europe, the US, and China added stimulus to prop up growth. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 0.8 per cent. In China the Shanghai Composite dropped 2.9 per cent this week, capping its first decline in four weeks.

In the US the S&P 500 fell 1.5 per cent as companies from 3M Co. to DuPont Co. reported disappointing quarterly results and forecasts.

Oil pared a second weekly loss, rising with gasoline and heating oil on concern that Hurricane Sandy will disrupt East Coast refinery production and as the US economy showed signs of growth.