European stock markets mid-session: indices recover slightly from early slump

European stocks recover slightly after they slumped sharply in early trading tracking losses on Wall Street and Asia on concerns over economic growth in China and worries that Greece heads for a showdown with the European Union.

Yesterday data showed that China's trade performance slumped far more than analysts expected. Chinese exports fell 3.3% and imports decreased by 19.9%.

Over the weekend Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsirpas ruled out any extension of the international bailout and reaffirmed that he will stick to his plan to roll back austerity measures. On late Friday Standard and Poor's downgraded Greece from B- to B, only one notch higher than "default" and kept the outlook for Greece negative. S&P warned that time is running out for Greece to reach an agreement. Moody's is reviewing its rating.

Today data on German Trade Balance was published. Germany's surplus widened in December from revised 17.9 billion to 21.8 billion, more than the 18.2 billion predicted by economists.

Eurozone's Sentix Investor Confidence Index for February improved to the highest level in 9-months. The index improved from a previous reading of 0.9 to 12.4, beating estimates of an increase to 3.0.

The FTSE 100 index is currently trading -0.72% quoted at 6,804.22 points. Germany's DAX 30 lost -1.66% trading at 10,666.56. France's CAC 40 is currently trading at 4,637.49 points, -1.14%.