European Stocks Decline as FTSE 100 Ends Record Winning Streak

EghtesadOnline: European stocks fell on concern Britain will quit the European Union’s single market and as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump suggested other countries could follow the U.K. out of the bloc.

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17 January 2017

The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.8 percent at the close, after Friday’s biggest rise in a month. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 lost 0.2 percent, ending a streak of 14 straight advances and 12 consecutive all-time highs. Its losses were limited by gains in exporters as as the pound tumbled ahead of U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s speech on Brexit plans on Tuesday.

Miners were the only industry group in the Stoxx 600 to advance on Monday, while banks and insurers led losses. Along with the weak pound, gains in commodity producers have also boosted the FTSE 100 since Brexit, according to Bloomberg.

Among shares active on corporate news, Essilor International SA surged 12 percent after the French lensmaker agreed to buy Luxottica Group SpA for about 22.8 billion euros ($24 billion). The Italian maker of Ray-Ban sunglasses rose 8.3 percent.

Investors will also focus on the European Central Bank’s policy meeting this week. Economists in a Bloomberg survey said the ECB will wait until late this year before considering reining in its bond-buying plan, and won’t halt the program until well into 2018 at the earliest.