The German market is declining in afternoon trading Tuesday. Debt worries hurt lenders and weak cues from Japan weighed on sentiment.
Crude for October delivery is trading lower by $1.41 at $73.10 per barrel. December gold is trading at $1249.6 an ounce, down $1.5 from the previous close.
In economic news, Germany's factory orders declined 2.2% in July from the prior month, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology said. Economists had expected a rise of 0.5% after an increase of 3.6% in June.
In the U.K., retail sales on a like-for-like basis grew 1% year-over-year in August, helped by Back to school shopping and autumn clothing, revealed a new British Retail Consortium survey. On a total basis, sales were up 2.8%. Like-for-like sales had risen 0.5% in July, while total sales had increased 2.6%.
Official figures showed Switzerland's unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.6% in August as expected. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs said around 142,900 were registered unemployed at the end of August, nearly 550 more than July, but down 8000 from last year.
The Bank of Japan maintained its key interest rate at near-zero at the end of its two-day policy meeting. In a unanimous vote, the policy board of the central bank, led by Governor Masaaki Shirakawa decided to leave the uncollateralized overnight call rate unchanged at 0.10%. Across in Australia, as widely expected, the Reserve Bank of Australia held the overnight cash rate at 4.5%.
The DAX opened lower at 6,137 and witnessed choppy trading that kept the index below the unchanged line. The index is currently losing 0.73%.
Chip maker Infineon Technologies is losing 2.96%. Chemical firm K+S is losing 2.6%. Basf is down 1.7%
Banking stocks were hurt on concerns that the stress tests concluded on them did not adequately reveal their risky bonds and that they may need more capital. Commerzbank is dipping 2.3% and Deutsche Bank is losing 2%.
Other notable losers include footwear maker Adidas, business software maker SAP and insurer Allianz.
Automakers are seeing the downside. Volkswagen and truck maker MAN are down about 0.3%, whereas Daimler is declining 0.10%. However, Bayerische Motoren Werke is adding 0.05%.
Those rising moderately include chemical firm Bayer and medical technology company Fresenius.
Elsewhere in Europe, the UK's FTSE 100 is sliding 0.82% and the French CAC 40 is losing 1.28%.
Overseas in Asia/Pacific, major markets had a mixed outing. China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.08% and India's BSE Sensex added 0.46%. However, Australia's All Ordinaries dipped 0.06% and Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 0.81%.
In the U.S., futures indicate a lower open on Wall Street. The U.S. markets were closed on Monday on account of Labor Day. In the previous session, the Dow jumped 1.2%, the Nasdaq surged 1.5% and the S&P 500 advanced 1.3%.
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