Japanese stocks slid to the lowest level since March, as slowing U.S. jobs growth fueled concern the global economy is weakening and Tokyo Electric Power Co. plunged to a record low.
Monex Group Inc. led brokerages lower on concern investors are making fewer trades. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (8306) lost 3 percent after the Nikkei newspaper said Japan’s biggest publicly traded bank may be forced to hold extra capital reserves. Tokyo Electric, operator of the nuclear plant crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, plunged 28 percent after a report that Tokyo Stock Exchange President Atsushi Saito said the power company should be put in bankruptcy protection.
European stocks retreated for a fourth straight day, pulling the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index to a 10-week low, amid growing concern the global economy is weakening.
Unione di Banche Italiane ScpA (UBI) and Societe Generale SA slid more than 2 percent as a gauge of banks retreated to the lowest since July. Air France-KLM (AF) Group and Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA), Europe’s biggest airlines, fell after a trade group cut the industry’s profit forecast.
Aegis Group Plc (AGS) climbed 6.9 percent to 151 pence after the U.K. buyer of advertising space said it is in talks about selling its market research unit Synovate to French polling company Ipsos (IPS) SA.
Bayer AG (BAYN) advanced 1.5 percent to 56.25 euros after Phase III Alsympca trial evaluating its investigational compound radium-223 chloride in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer and bone metastases was found to significantly improve overall survival.
Glencore International Plc gained 2 percent to 515 pence as Deutsche Bank AG initiated coverage of the world’s largest listed commodity trader with a “buy” recommendation, saying the stock is undervalued.
The Stoxx 600 declined 0.6 percent to 272.16 at the 4:30 p.m. close in London, the lowest since March 22. The gauge has fallen for five consecutive weeks, the longest stretch of losses since July 2008, as U.S. manufacturing and jobs reports fueled concern the economic recovery may falter and as speculation grew that Greece will default on its debt.
U.S. stocks fell for a fourth day amid concern economic growth is slowing and the Federal Reserve will boost capital requirements for the nation’s largest banks.
Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. (C) slumped at least 3.4 percent. Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), the largest U.S. home lender, slid 1.7 percent after Rochdale Securities LLC’s Richard Bove cut his recommendation on the stock. Lowe’s Cos. lost 1.5 percent after JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its rating on the second-largest U.S. home-improvement retailer.
The S&P 500 fell 0.8 percent to 1,290.14 at 2:48 p.m. in New York today. The benchmark gauge for American equities is trading at about 12.3 times its companies’ estimated operating earnings, the cheapest valuation since September, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 44.73 points, or 0.4 percent, to 12,10.53 today.
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