Market Update
Stocks in Europe were trading lower early Friday, with auto shares witnessing selling, ahead of the Jackson Hole conference in the United States later today where Fed chief Ben Bernanke is scheduled to speak.
At the time of writing, Britain's FTSE and France's CAC had declined 0.9% each while Germany's DAX was trading 1.3% lower.
Bank shares out-performed in the falling market with BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale, gaining 0.4% to 0.8%, after several nations extended their ban of short-selling financial stocks.
But miners Rio Tinto, Xstrata and Antofagasta lost between 0.3% and 1.1%. In automakers, Peugeot fell 1.9% after a broker downgrade while BMW, Daimler and Renault erased 0.7% to 1.3%.
Markets now await Bernanke's speech at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and will look for cues whether further easing measures are on the way to boost the U.S. economy, which has shown serious signs of slowing recently.