The European markets are mixed in afternoon trading Wednesday, amid a return of debt worries following the failure of leaders to reach an agreement on a second Greek rescue plan. Lenders are under pressure as Moody's placed the ratings of three French banks on review for a possible downgrade.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is losing 0.54 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is dropping 0.07 percent.
The German DAX is falling 0.40 percent and the French CAC 40 is dropping 0.52 percent. The UK's FTSE 100 is sliding 0.18 percent, while Switzerland's SMI is adding 0.02 percent.
Among the DAX components, RWE is falling 1.3 percent, while E.ON is losing 0.5 percent. Citigroup cut its price target on RWE to 33 euros from 39 euros, while the brokerage upgraded E.ON to "Hold" from "Sell." Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs reduced its price target on E.ON to 23 euros from 24 euros. Separately, the stock was raised to 'Premium List' at Societe Generale.
HeidelbergCement is down 0.21 percent. The stock's price target was reduced to 64 euros from 66.50 euros at Goldman Sachs. Meanwhile, Unicredit initiated the stock with "Buy" and a price target of 55.21 euros.
Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank are losing 1.4 percent and 0.9 percent, in that order.
Automakers BMW and Daimler are slightly up, while Volkswagen is notably higher.
Sportsgoods giant Adidas is gaining 1.1 percent. HSBC raised the stock to "Overweight" from "Neutral" and increased the price target to 65 euros from 50 euros.
Lenders Societe Generale, Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas and Natixis are declining between 2 percent and 0.9 percent in Paris.
Moody's Investors Service has placed the financial strength ratings and long-term debt and deposit ratings of Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale on review for possible downgrade, citing their investment in Greece.
Lafarge is falling 1.4 percent. Goldman Sachs cut its price target on the cement giant to 67.80 euros from 70 euros.
Saint-Gobain is down 0.8 percent. Unicredit initiated the stock with a "Buy" rating and a price target of 53.71 euros.
Unicredit also initiated builder Vinci with "Buy" and a price target of 61.67 euros. Vinci is down 0.1 percent.
In London, Barclays and HSBC Holdings are falling 1.1 percent each. UBS cuts its price target on HSBC to 655 pence from 708 pence.
Tullow Oil is dropping 1 percent. Royal Dutch Shell is modestly down, while BP is up 0.1 percent.
Experian is falling 2.7 percent.
Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are gaining. Eurasian Natural Resources is falling 1.1 percent after Glencore confirmed that it was not considering to buy the miner. Glencore is declining 2.9 percent.
Retailer Sainsbury is modestly up after reporting higher sales for the first quarter.
Hennes & Mauritz is down 3.3 percent in Stockholm after the company reported a 2 percent growth in comparable units sales.
Zurich Financial Services AG said its UK non-core subsidiary Zurich Specialties London Ltd. will transfer its run-off insurance business to Swiss Re, as part of its announced strategy to divest most of its non-core businesses. The insurer is falling 1 percent, while Swiss re is down 0.4 percent
In economic news, U.K. jobless claims increased more than expected in May, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance rose by 19,600 to 1.49 million in May, compared to economists' expectation of an increase of 6,500. The claimant count rate came in at 4.6 percent, in line with the consensus forecast.
Eurozone industrial production grew by seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent in April from March, data released by Eurostat showed. Economists were expecting a monthly fall of 0.2 percent after staying flat in March.
Across Asia/Pacific, many major markets ended lower. Australia's All Ordinaries lost 0.34 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index retreated 0.90 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 0.68 percent. However, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.28 percent.
In the U.S., futures point to a lower open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the major averages gave back some ground going into the close but still ended the day firmly positive. The Dow advanced 1 percent, the Nasdaq rose 1.5 percent and the S&P 500 climbed 1.3 percent.
In the commodity space, crude for July delivery is sliding $0.30 to $99.37 per barrel and August gold is dropping $4.2 to $1520.2 a troy ounce.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.