Europe stocks head for correction as new deadline set for Greece
European stocks extended a selloff, poised for a correction, as the region’s leaders set a Sunday deadline for Greece to accept a rescue package.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.2 percent to 371.87 at 8:40 a.m. in London. A fifth day of losses is pushing the gauge down 10 percent from an April record. Benchmark indexes of western-European markets including France, Spain and Italy entered corrections on Monday after Greek voters rejected austerity measures in a referendum.
European leaders at a Brussels summit Tuesday ordered Greece to present economic proposals to get more aid or face expulsion from the euro. The Sunday deadline looms as the culmination of a five-year battle to contain Greece’s debts. The Greek stock market will remain closed on Wednesday.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne delivers the first budget of a Tory-majority government in almost two decades. At a presentation at 12:30 p.m. in London, he may press ahead with plans to slash a further 12 billion pounds ($19 billion) from welfare costs. The FTSE 100 Index rose 0.3 percent.
Antofagasta Plc and Rio Tinto Group slid more than 1.1 percent, dragging miners lower, as metal prices dropped. Shares in China, the world’s biggest consumer of commodities, tumbled to a three-month low on concern that measures to stabilize equities are failing to halt a bear-market rout.
Barclays Plc advanced 2.7 percent after saying chief executive officer Antony Jenkins will leave. John McFarlane will be the executive chairman while the company searches for a replacement for Jenkins. The changes will be effective July 17. [Bloomberg]
