The European markets are declining in afternoon trading Wednesday, as concerns remained about the political deadlock in Greece.
Greece is facing a political impasse after voters turned down the parties that accepted the international bailout terms in the Sunday elections. Alexis Tsipras, the leader of Greece's left-wing Syriza bloc, said on Tuesday the vote had "clearly nullified" the EU/IMF loan agreement.
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe warned against renegotiating the fiscal compact and said such a move could unleash market turbulence. The current situation in Greece is extremely "difficult and tense," reports said citing his interview to Europe 1 radio.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is losing 1.20 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is falling 1.04 percent.
The German DAX is losing 0.34 percent and the French CAC 40 is falling 0.95 percent. The UK's FTSE 100 is declining 0.94 percent and Switzerland's SMI is dropping 1.03 percent.
German lender Commerzbank said it has already surpassed the original capital target of 5.3 billion euros set by the European Banking Authority by about 1.1 billion euros as of March 31. The stock is adding 2.4 percent. Deutsche Bank is marginally lower.
HeidelBergCement is rising 1.9 percent and Bayer is up 1.5 percent. Berenberg raised Bayer to "Hold" from "Buy."
Berenberg cut Freenet to "Hold" from "Buy." The stock is falling 2.2 percent.
Societe Generale raised RWE to "Hold" from "Sell." The shares are up modestly.
Peer E.ON reported a decline in first-quarter profit, citing lower prices in Europe power generation markets and shutdown of nuclear power stations in Germany. Despite this, the company confirmed its 2012 and 2013 forecasts. The shares are falling 1.6 percent.
Lufthansa is declining 2.5 percent and Infineon Technologies is falling 1.9 percent.
K+S, which reported first-quarter financial results, is down 1.3 percent.
Fraport is up 0.7 percent. The owner and operator of Frankfurt Airport reported a decline in first-quarter profit, as passenger traffic was affected by a number of strikes resulting in about 2,150 flight cancellations. Despite this, revenues grew about 6 percent.
Henkel is falling 0.8 percent. The company posted a 30 percent increase in first-quarter profit, boosted by higher sales mainly in emerging markets.
Insurer Allianz said it remains committed to a cautious investment strategy. The stock is down 0.9 percent.
BMW, Volkswagen and Daimler are in negative territory.
Kloeckner is declining 7.3 percent after reporting a loss for the first quarter.
In Paris, Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas are declining 1.6 percent each. Societe Generale is moderately lower after HSBC raised the stock to "Overweight" from "Neutral."
Air France-KLM is up 0.4 percent. The airline reported a growth in passenger traffic and capacity for April boosted by improved performance in Europe, Americas and Asia/Pacific.
In London, oil companies were hit by lower crude prices. Tullow Oil is falling 3.1 percent. Royal Dutch Shell is losing 1.2 percent and BP is declining 1.5 percent.
Royal Bank of Scotland is falling 2.4 percent. Lloyds Banking is losing 1.6 percent.
Weir Group is declining 6.1 percent after a trading update.
Sage Group is declining 4.8 percent after reporting financial results.
Sainsbury is advancing 1.3 percent. The grocer's underlying pre-tax profit rose on higher sales and the company also increased its full year dividend.
Holcim is down 1.8 percent in Zurich after reporting flat profit for the first quarter.
ING is up 1.4 percent in Amsterdam. The company reported first-quarter results.
Carlsberg backed its full-year outlook, despite posting a loss for the first quarter. The stock is up 2.4 percent.
Mediaset is declining 2.9 percent in Madrid.
In economic news, Germany's exports grew unexpectedly in March, boosting trade surplus above expectations. Both exports and imports reached record monthly levels in March, signaling that the biggest eurozone economy is showing some resilience despite the sovereign debt crisis in the 17-nation bloc.
Trade surplus was 17.4 billion euros in March compared to a 14.9 billion euros surplus in February. Economists had expected a more modest increase in surplus to 14.3 billion euros. Exports rose 0.9 percent month-over-month, while imports increased by 1.2 percent.
Worries concerning Greece weighed on Asia/Pacific too. Among major markets, Australia's All Ordinaries lost 1 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index retreated 1.7 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.8 percent. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index declined 1.5 percent.
In the U.S., futures point to a lower open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the major averages ended the session well off their worst levels but remained stuck in the red as uncertainty about the political situation in Europe continued to weigh on the markets. The Dow fell 0.6 percent, the Nasdaq dropped 0.4 percent and the S&P 500 slipped 0.4 percent.
In the commodity space, crude for June delivery is sliding $0.78 to $96.23 per barrel and June gold is dropping $18.1 to $1586.4 a troy ounce.
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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.