Market Update
Equities in Europe were trading lower, after some disappointing earnings in the United States overnight led to worries over the state of the economy, and prompted broad-based selling.
At the time of writing, Britain's FTSE was trading 1.2% lower, while France's CAC and Germany's DAX fell 1.7% and 1.9%, respectively.
In leading decliners, shares in Swiss cement maker Holcim were down 4.8% following its quarterly earnings and after profits were hurt by a strong franc.
Among financials, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Deutsche Bank dropped between 2.2% and 3.6% while in London, miners BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Xstrata and Anglo American were off 2.5% to 2.9%.
In news-driven movers, Veolia Environnement lost 3.2% after a broker downgrade.