European stocks close:

European stocks retreated as slowing economic growth in Japan offset increased demand at an Italian debt auction.

Petrofac (PFC) Ltd. fell 5.2 percent as the oil and gas engineer said profit growth will slow. Unicredit SpA and Intesa (ISP) Sanpaolo SpA advanced after Italy sold 8 billion euros ($9.9 billion) of debt.

The Stoxx 600 fell 0.4 percent to 268.72 at the close of trade.

National benchmark indexes fell in 14 of the 18 western European markets today.

FTSE 100 5,831.88 -15.23 -0.26% CAC 40 3,426.41 -9.21 -0.27% DAX 6,909.68 -34.88 -0.50%  

Japanese data today showed a reconstruction-fueled rebound in the country’s economy waned in the second quarter as consumer spending growth almost stalled and export gains diminished.

Gross domestic product advanced an annualized 1.4 percent in the three months through June, less than the median economist estimate of 2.3 percent.

Julius Baer (BAER) dropped 7.4 percent to 32.80 Swiss francs after the money manager agreed to pay about 860 million francs ($880 million) for Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch non-U.S. wealth management business. The company plans to raise 750 million francs through a rights offering to help fund the deal.

Petrofac dropped 5.2 percent to 1,486 pence for a fourth- day of declines after the U.K. oil and gas engineer said profit growth in the second half will slow as projects are delayed. The company reported first-half net profit of $325 million, beating the average analyst estimate of $314 million.

Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) declined 6 percent to 2.18 euros.

Solarworld AG (SWV) sank 12 percent to 1.16 euros after Germany’s biggest panel-maker said it sees lower full-year revenue in 2012 from a year earlier. The company reported a second-quarter net loss of 161 million euros and sales of 169.6 million euros for the period.

Unicredit (UCG), Italy’s largest bank, rose 1 percent to 2.94 euros. Intesa, the country’s second-biggest, gained 0.8 percent to 1.10 euros.