Business News

The European markets fell for the third day on Friday, as banking stocks extended their losses on worries over fiscal woes in Greece, Spain and Portugal and commodity stocks slipped after crude oil and metals prices declined.

The major European averages are trading in negative territory in early afternoon Friday, ahead of the release of U.S. monthly non-farm payroll data for January. Sentiment was impacted by growing concerns that the instability in Greece brought about by its spiraling budget deficit could expand to rest of the Eurozone region. Crude oil for March delivery is trading lower by $0.25 per barrel and gold is trading down $8.4 an ounce.

The European markets are likely to extend the previous session’s sell-off on Friday, as investors eagerly look forward to the jobs report for clues on economic recovery. However, with the Dow futures now moving up by 19 points, some bargain hunting is likely. Crude oil prices also rose modestly in Asian trading today after tumbling by $3.84 to $73.14 per barrel yesterday.

The European markets fell for the second day on Thursday, as investors were worried over the fiscal woes in Greece, Portugal and Spain and U.S. jobless claims unexpectedly increased.

After a notable fall in the previous session, European stocks may open slightly higher on Thursday amid some likely bargain hunting. However, trading may turn volatile as investors shift their focus to interest rate decisions from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England along with factory orders data from Germany due later in the day. Both central banks are expected to hold their key rates at record lows.

The European markets fell for the first time in four days on Wednesday, as worries over Euro-zone debt spilled over to touch Spain and Portugal