By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets headed south in
early action on Wednesday, with earnings reports and broker action
weighing on several shares. Heavyweight Seadrill Ltd. dropped after
a downgrade, and Jeronimo Martins SGPS SA fell on earnings, while
Airbus Group NV rose after results.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index , which closed at a six-year high on
Tuesday, fell 0.3% to 337.44.
Heavyweight Seadrill weighed on the main index with a nearly 3%
loss after Nomura cut it to neutral from buy. The re-rating came
after Tuesday's results for the offshore driller, which provided a
muted outlook for the deepwater-drilling market in 2014 and said
there would be limited scope to lift its quarterly dividend.
Also weighing, drug maker Novo Nordisk AS (NVO) dropped
1.5%.
Jeronimo Martins topped the decliners list with a nearly 6%
drop, after the Portuguese retailer reported 2013 results that
missed analysts forecasts.
Banks were also among decliners, with Credit Suisse Group AG
(CS) down 2.5% after being criticized by U.S. senators over its
role in tax evasion, and UBS AG (UBS) down 1.3%.
On the upside, shares of Swiss Life Holding AG jumped more than
5% after the insurer raised its dividend 22%. It also posted net
income for 2013 that beat forecasts of analysts polled by
Bloomberg.
Shares of Bouygues SA rose nearly 3%. The media-to-construction
conglomerate posted a net loss in 2013 after writing down the value
of its 29% stake in Alstom SA .The company said it expects sales in
2014 to remain at the same level as in 2013.
Within the main indexes, the German DAX 30 index fell 0.2% to
9,680, while the French CAC 40 index dropped 0.3% to 4,401.11, and
the FTSE 100 index moved down 0.4% to 6,803.15.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires