EUROPE MARKETS: European Stocks Pull Back From Six-year Highs

By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets headed south on Wednesday, with earnings reports and broker action weighing on several shares. Heavyweight Seadrill Ltd. dropped after a downgrade, and Jeronimo Martins SGPS SA fell on earnings, while Airbus Group NV rose after results.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index , which closed at a six-year high on Tuesday, fell 0.4% to 336.92.

Heavyweight Seadrill weighed on the main index with a 1.6% loss after Nomura cut it to neutral from buy. The re-rating came after Tuesday's results for the offshore driller, which provided a muted outlook for the deepwater-drilling market in 2014 and said there would be limited scope to lift its quarterly dividend.

Jeronimo Martins lost 6.3%, after the Portuguese retailer reported 2013 results that missed analysts forecasts.

Banks were also among decliners, with Credit Suisse Group AG (CS) down 2.2% after being criticized by U.S. senators over its role in tax evasion, and UBS AG (UBS) down 1.3%.

On the upside, shares of Swiss Life Holding AG jumped 4.4% after the insurer raised its dividend 22%. It also posted net income for 2013 that beat forecasts of analysts polled by Bloomberg.

In data news, the Office for National Statistics said U.K. gross domestic product rose 0.7% quarter-on-quarter in the final three months of 2013, unrevised from a preliminary estimate and in line with expectations. Year-on-year, the economy expanded by 1.8%, down from the previously estimated 1.9%.

Investors in London largely ignored the data, with the FTSE 100 index staying lower after the data, off 0.4% to 6,801.85.

In Germany, a forward-looking gauge of consumer confidence rose to a seven-year high in March, suggesting the German economy is gaining broad-based strength.

The German DAX 30 index , however, tripped 0.5% to 9,653.42, weighed by Lanxess AG down 4.1%. The chemicals firm said impairments and restructuring charges drove it to a loss in 2013.

Also in Frankfurt, Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA declined 1.6% after UBS cut the health-care firm to neutral from buy.

France's CAC 40 index dropped 0.5% to 4,392.22. Shares of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMUY) gave up 1.6% after Credit Suisse cut the luxury-goods firm to underperform from neutral. The analysts said LVMH is likely to underperform its peers in 2014 despite a diversified portfolio of brands with solid market positions and a strong management team.

Shares of Bouygues SA rose 0.2% in Paris. The media-to-construction conglomerate posted a net loss in 2013 after writing down the value of its 29% stake in Alstom SA , but said it managed a profit aside from the write-down. The company said it expects sales in 2014 to remain at the same level as in 2013.

Outside the major indexes, drug maker Novo Nordisk AS (NVO) dropped 1.6% pulling back from a record high reached on Tuesday, when J.P. Morgan Cazenove lifted the company to overweight from underweight.

More must-reads from MarketWatch:

Bitcoin price climbs as Mt. Gox works for 'a solution'

Vodafone after Verizon deal -- why it's still a steal

Three warning signs from higher gold prices

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires