The German market is declining modestly in afternoon trading Thursday, as economic worries deepened after Fitch Ratings downgraded Greece's credit rating deeper into junk status and Moody's Investors Service warned of a possible downgrade of U.S. government debt.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is dropping 0.51 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is declining 0.52 percent.
After opening at 7,205, compared to the previous close of 7,174, the DAX index has been moving in a range of 7,204 - 7,263. The index is currently falling 0.28 percent.
Technology firm SAP is leading the decliners by falling 2.2 percent. Infineon Technologies is losing 0.8 percent.
Commerzbank is falling 1.5 percent, while Deutsche Bank is losing 0.4 percent.
Truckmaker MAN is losing 1.2 percent. JPMorgan cut its price target on the stock to 108 euros from 123 euros. BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen are advancing 2.1 percent to 1.3 percent.
Unicredit reinitiated BMW and Daimler. BMW was given a "Buy" rating, while Daimler is kept at "Hold."
Meanwhile, Unicredit lowered Software AG to "Hold" from "Buy." The stock is falling 13.2 percent in Frankfurt.
Elsewhere in Europe, the French CAC 40 is losing 0.81 [percent, and the UK's FTSE 100 is falling 0.60 percent. Switzerland's SMI is dropping 0.52 percent.
In economic news, eurozone annual inflation stayed at 2.7 percent in June, unchanged from May, matching the flash estimate, final data from Eurostat showed.
Across Asia/Pacific, major markets had a mixed outing. Australia's All Ordinaries lost 0.5 percent and Japan's Nikkei 225 retreated 0.27 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index added 0.54 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.06 percent.
In the U.S., futures point to a slightly higher open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the Dow ended up 0.4 percent, the Nasdaq rose 0.5 percent and the S&P 500 edged up 0.3 percent.
In the commodity space, crude for August delivery is adding $0.19 to $98.24 per barrel, while gold is gaining $7.9 at $1593.4 a troy ounce.
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