European stocks were little changed

European stocks were little changed as Spain sold more than targeted at a debt auction, offsetting concern that debt-ceiling talks will harm the U.S. economy and a report showing German growth slowed more than expected in 2012.

Spain sold 5.75 billion euros ($7.7 billion) of bills, overshooting the maximum target the Treasury set for the first short-term debt sale of the year.

Germany’s economy, Europe’s largest, probably shrank in the final quarter of 2012. Gross domestic product may have dropped as much as 0.5 percent from the third quarter, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today in a preliminary estimate. In 2012, growth slowed to 0.7 percent from 3 percent in 2011, it said. Economists forecast expansion of 0.8 percent for last year.

IG Group, owner of the IG Index financial spread-betting brand, slipped 3 percent to 454 pence. The company said first- half net trading revenue fell 14 percent to 169 million pounds ($271.8 million) and pretax profit slid 21 percent to 81.1 million pounds.

Air Liquide fell 0.6 percent to 92.50 euros after Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch unit cut its recommendation on the shares to underperform from neutral.

H&M jumped 3.8 percent to 228.60 kronor. Europe’s second- largest clothing retailer reported an increase in sales that beat analysts’ estimates for a second consecutive month. Total December sales rose 8 percent from a year earlier, the company said, exceeding the 5.1 percent average estimate in an SME Direkt survey.

FTSE 100 6,109.63 +1.77 +0.03%

CAC 40 3,713.8 +5.55 +0.15%

DAX 7,722.79 -6.73 -0.09%