EUROPE MARKETS: European Stocks Slip; Miners Fall Following Downgrade

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks slipped Monday, with price declines in the mining group helping to pull the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 away from a record high.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was off 0.1% at 412.66, with industrial and consumer goods and services shares pulled lower. The benchmark on Friday ended at a record closing high of 412.93 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-stick-to-record-highs-set-for-best-week-since-january-2015-04-10).

On Monday, basic resources stocks were also under pressure after analysts at Citigroup cut their stance on the iron-ore sector to neutral from bullish, in line with major forecast revisions by Citi's commodity team.

Among the hardest hit stocks was BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) , which fell 2.2% as Citi cut its rating on the iron-ore mining heavyweight to neutral from buy and moved it off its European focus list. Citi also cut its rating on miner Anglo American PLC , to sell from neutral. Anglo's shares fell 1.6%.

The pullback in mining shares weighed on the U.K.'s FTSE 100 , which lost 0.2% to 7,070.17, also stepping from a record closing high set on Friday.

Elsewhere, Germany's DAX 30 swung slightly higher, by 0.1% to 12,386.92. Car maker Volkswagen AG was down 1.3% after a crisis over leadership erupted Friday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/volkswagen-faces-fight-over-future-leadership-2015-04-13), with Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn vowing to resist efforts to oust him.

In Paris, the CAC 40 shed 0.1% to 5,235.18.

Equity trading in Greece was closed for the Orthodox Easter holiday.

Investors will begin to start to see more companies rolling their financial updates. Analysts expected, as of Friday, first-quarter earnings on the Stoxx 600 to rise 0.7% from the same period last year, according to Thomson Reuters data. In a typical quarter, 48% of companies beat per-share earnings estimates. First-quarter revenue, however, is expected to drop 11.4% from the year-earlier period.

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