European Markets Dip After China Data
European stock markets dropped on Monday, with banks leading the charge south, as investors digested a mixed bag of data from China.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index slipped 0.1% to 335.49, after closing in positive territory for a second straight week on Friday. U.S. stock markets were closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Shares of Deutsche Bank AG (DB) lost 4.4% after the bank on Sunday reported an unexpected pretax loss for the fourth quarter, as it took charges for valuation adjustments and litigation costs.
Shares of Peugeot SA slid 6.6% after the car maker's board approved the broad outline of a possible 3 billion euro ($4.1 billion) capital increase.
On a more upbeat note, shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA (AHBIY) picked up 1% after private-equity firm KKR & Co. (KKR.AE) and Affinity Equity Partners reached a deal to sell Oriental Brewery back to the brewer.
More broadly, investors weighed a raft of data out of China. Gross domestic product for the fourth quarter showed economy growth slowed slightly, while industrial-production growth in December eased a bit more than expected.
"The slowdown is somewhat expected as China transitions itself from an economy driven by consumer spending and services rather than one reliant on debt-fueled investments and exports," said Ishaq Siddiqi, market strategist at ETX Capital, in a note.
"Markets are expecting GDP for the country to come in between 7.2% to 7.4% for 2014, but are hopeful that economic reforms put in place by the current leadership will bear fruit by 2015 and beyond," he added.
Among country-specific indexes in Europe, Germany's DAX 30 index fell 0.3% to 9,715.07, weighed by Deutsche Bank. France's CAC 40 index was flat around 4,327.30, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index was marginally higher at 6,831.38.