EUROPE MARKETS: European Stocks Slip From Record High As Investors Eye Greece

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

European stocks on Thursday pulled back from a record high as investors kept an eye on Greece's debt situation and sifted through corporate financial updates.

The Stoxx Europe 600 shed 0.2% to 413.54, with only the consumer-goods and oil and gas sectors moving higher.

On Wednesday, the Stoxx 600 on Wednesday, the pan-European benchmark (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-aim-for-new-record-ahead-of-ecb-policy-statement-2015-04-15) closed at a record high of 414.06, following an upbeat assessment of the European Central Bank's asset-purchase program by central-bank chief Mario Draghi.

Investors kept a wary eye on Greece as the country's cash crunch intensified, with a debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund and a large wage and pension bill both due at the beginning of May. On Thursday, the Financial Times reported that Greek officials had informally approached (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greece-asked-imf-to-delay-debt-repayment-report-2015-04-16) the IMF for a delay to repayment, but were rebuffed.

The yield on two-year Greek debt climbed 2.9 percentage points to 25.9%, while the yield on 10-year debt rose 1 percentage point to 12.6%.

Greece's Athex Composite lost 0.2% to 742.58. Late Wednesday, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services cut the country's long-term credit rating to CCC-plus from B-minus, and data released the same day showed Greece fell short of its 2014 budget target (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greece-misses-budget-targets-for-2014-2015-04-16). Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis is due to meet President Barack Obama later Thursday.

On the Stoxx 600, Diageo PLC (DEO) shares were among Thurday's biggest decliners. Shares fell 2% after the Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky maker said organic net sales fell 0.3% in the nine months ended March 31.

But Unilever PLC shares shone, rising 4.6% after the company, whose products include Dove soap and Magnum ice cream, said first-quarter underlying sales grew 2.8%, outstripping expectations of a 2.1% increase from a Thomson Reuters projection.

On the country indexes, Germany's DAX 30 fell 0.8% to 12,136.56 and France's CAC 40 lost 0.4% to 5,235.96. The U.K..'s FTSE 100 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-eases-from-record-high-but-unilever-sabmiller-gain-ground-2015-04-16) dropped 0.2% to 7,081.54, also pulling back from a record closing high set on Wednesday.

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