Banks are leading the French market decline in afternoon trading Tuesday on debt worries.
Crude for October delivery is trading lower by $1.53 at $73.07 per barrel. December gold is trading at $1257 an ounce, up $5.9 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 CAC 40 opened below the unchanged line at 3,671 and witnessed choppy trading. The index is currently declining 1.15%.
Lender Societe Generale, Credit Agricole and Dexia are losing between 3.1% and 3.3%. BNP Paribas is slipping 2.2%. 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.
Department stores operator PPR is sliding 2.5% and telecom equipment maker Alcatel Lucent is retreating 2.3%. Hotel group Accor is losing 2.2% and chip maker STMicroelectronics is falling 2.1%..
Other notable losers include beverages firm Pernod-Ricard, personal care products maker Loreal, France Telecom, heavy construction firms Vinci and Bouygues, oil giant Total and insurer Axa.
Car makers Renault and Peugeot are declining 0.7% each.
Media firm Lagardere is rising 0.4%. Drug maker Sanofi-Aventis is adding 0.1%.
Elsewhere in Europe, the UK's FTSE 100 is sliding 0.79% and the German DAX is losing 0.71%.
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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