European stock close

Most European stocks fell amid concern over budget talks in the world’s largest economy and as a report showed U.S. durable-goods orders excluding transportation unexpectedly dropped.

The Stoxx 600 dropped 0.1 percent to 312.99 at 4:33 p.m. in London, as three shares retreated for every two that gained. The gauge has still climbed 5.3 percent in September as the Federal Reserve refrained from reducing its monthly asset purchases. It has surged 9.8 percent since the end of June, heading for the biggest quarterly gain in four years.

National benchmark indexes retreated in 10 of the 18 western-European markets today.

FTSE 100 6,551.53 -19.93 -0.30% CAC 40 4,195.35 -0.26 -0.01% DAX 8,665.63 +1.03 +0.01%

U.S. durable-goods orders, excluding the volatile transportation category, slipped 0.1 percent in August after falling a revised 0.5 percent the previous month, according to the Commerce Department. The median forecast of economists survey called for a 1 percent gain.

Americans are losing faith in the nation’s economic recovery even as forecasters expect growth to accelerate. Fewer people anticipate European Stocks Fluctuate Before U.S. Durable-Goods Orders Data improvement in the economy’s strength over the next year than in the last survey in June, with 27 percent saying the expansion will be more robust, down from 39 percent who expected improvement three months earlier.

Congress has yet to pass a budget for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. U.S. lawmakers are also debating legislation to increase the government’s authority to borrow and pay bills, with the Treasury Department estimating the debt limit could be reached as soon as mid-October.

Nordea (NDA) dropped 2.7 percent to 77.05 kronor. Sweden sold 284 million shares for 76 kronor each, valuing the 7 percent stake at 21.6 billion kronor ($3.4 billion).

Carnival fell 7 percent to 2,100 pence in London trading, heading toward the lowest price in more than a year. Morgan Stanley cut the stock to underweight, similar to a sell recommendation, from equal weight, citing the company’s valuation. Carnival slumped 5.6 percent yesterday after the cruise-ship operator said it may post a loss.

Tesco Plc, the U.K.’s largest retailer, fell 3.7 percent to 360.10 pence, the lowest price in two months, as JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced the stock to underweight from neutral. The brokerage said the emergence of German discounters Aldi and Lidl may cause Tesco to go “through a painful rebasing of pricing and the gross ">Commerzbank AG dropped 6 percent to 8.78 euros, extending its two-day decline to 7.8 percent. The shares fell yesterday after Equinet AG downgraded the lender to hold from buy, citing its exposure to the shipping industry and possible need for another capital increase.

ThyssenKrupp rose 3.7 percent to 18.15 euros as Cevian raised its stake to 5.2 percent. The Swedish investment company said it’s convinced of the steelmaker’s long-term potential.