Greek PM meeting Eurozone officials on rescue programme
- China numbers worry markets
- Philips down after Goldman hit

FTSE 100: -0.03%
Dax 30: -0.01%
Stoxx 600: -0.22%
Cac 40: -0.37%
Ibex 35: -0.32%
FTSE MIB: -0.11%

European stocks retreated on Monday as investors cashed in on the big gains of the previous week.

Last Thursday equities got a big boost when the European Central Bank revealed plans to buy the debt of distressed euro area nations but investor attention has now turned to the strings the ECB will attach to any intervention in the bond market. Most observers would agree that the conditions imposed on Greece have been disastrous and no one wants a repeat if Spain and Italy ask for help.

Today the Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has been meeting EU officials after he failed to win agreement from his coalition partners for the latest round of cuts demanded by the country's lenders.

Further darkening the mood have been disappointing numbers out of China where both the industrial production figure for August (+8.9%) and imports (-2.6%) came in below expectations.

COMPANIES

On the Stoxx 600 index, the weakest sector was 'food and beverage' which fell 1.22%. The strongest sector was 'basic resources' which added 0.81%.

The Belgo-Brasilian brewing giant InBev, the makers of Budweiser, Stellar Artois and Becks fell 2.8% amidst a general slump in the sector. Nestle (-0.6%) also had a bad day.

The world's biggest maker of light bulbs, Philips Electronics, dropped 2.4% after Goldman Sachs reduced its rating from buy to neutral.

Goldman also did a job on Telefonica, saying the Spanish firm didn't warrant a premium over other telecoms stocks. The stock fell back 1%.

BS

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