European shares are seen opening lower on Tuesday as bellwethers UBS and ArcelorMittal posted disappointing results and uncertainty continued over Greece's debt situation.
Asian markets are subdued, with China's Shanghai Composite index losing over 2 percent, after the International Monetary Fund said the Chinese economy would experience nearly 4 percentage points reduction in its growth rate projected for this year if the debt crisis in Europe intensifies.
Australian shares lost ground, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 retreating half a percent after the Reserve Bank of Australia surprisingly kept interest rates on hold at 4.25 percent, despite the uncertain global economic outlook.
The dollar rose against the euro and the yen on safe-haven buying as Greece missed another deadline to come up with a deal to satisfy the conditions for securing a second bailout from the troika.
In a joint interview with "France 2" television, both French President Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned the Greek politicians that they were running out of time to reach a consensus on the bailout loan package aimed at preventing the eurozone member nation from defaulting on its debts when it faces repayment of 14.5 billion euros in bonds on March 20.
In economic releases, U.K. retail sales values were down 0.3 percent on a like-for-like basis in January compared to January 2011, when sales had risen 2.3 percent, the British Retail Consortium said, the second worst January since the survey began in 1995 as consumers concentrated more on paying off debt and savings after raising their spending somewhat at the time of heavy discounting during Christmas.
In corporate news, German flag carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG's cabin crew is taking legal action against the company's plans to use contract workers at Berlin's new airport, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Alexander Behrens, the chairman of the staff committee.
Automotive major Daimler has reduced the number of employee regulations to 1000 from the previous 1,800, according to the Financial Times Deutschland.
UBS AG posted fourth-quarter net profit attributable to the company's shareholders of CHF 393 million or CHF 0.10 per share versus CHF 1.66 billion or CHF 0.43 per share last year.
Roth & Rau AG has unveiled cost-cutting measures to ensure a rapid and sustainable improvement in the company's earnings and financial strength.
French carrier Air France said it expects to cancel up to 30 percent of its flights today because of a pilots' strike in protest over proposed changes to rules governing labor protests.
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA and Banco Popolare SC were among the Italian banking groups to have their debt ratings downgraded by Fitch Ratings after Italy was downgraded last month.
ArcelorMittal said its fourth-quarter loss widened to $1.00 billion from last year's loss of $780 million, reflecting a large income tax expense in the recent quarter compared with a tax benefit in the prior-year period.
European stocks ended slightly weaker on Monday, as traders continued to watch for signs that Greece will avoid a default on its massive sovereign debt.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks fell 0.3 percent and the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, ended down 0.1 percent, while around Europe, the German DAX, Switzerland's SMI, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 and France's CAC 40 lost between 0.1 percent and 0.7 percent.
On Wall Street, the major averages ended marginally lower on Monday, as traders locked in some profits after recent gains amid continued worries about the stalemate in Greece's debt talks.
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Market Analysis
June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.