LONDON (ShareCast) - European stocks fell on worries of more banking losses after a gloomy assessment of the situation in Ireland.
The International Monetary Fund said banks in Ireland face losses of as much as $49bn into 2010. Brokers also
cut forecasts for
Credit Agricole (Paris: FR0000045072 - news) , adding to a tough day for the bank sector.
The CAC-40 slipped 21 to 3,163. Dax (Xetra: news) fell 35 to 4,800 while the FTSE 100 dropped 27 to 4,252.
Economic data added to the gloom. Orders fell 1% month-on-month in April and 35.5% on the year, according to European Union statistics office Eurostat.
Shares in Hennes & Mauritz advanced after the Swedish retail giant reported better-than-expected second quarter earnings. Europe's second-largest clothing retailer saw profits rise by 6% to 4.2bn Swedish kronor in the quarter ended 31 May, while sales rose 23% to 26.54bn kronor.
In other corporate news, Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson (Stockholm: ERIC-B.ST - news) has promoted its chief financial officer Hans Vestberg to replace chief executive Carl-Henric Svanberg, who has been appointed BP chairman.
Elsewhere, the super rich have been hit hard by the global economic crisis, according to the 2009 World Wealth Report.
The Merrill Lynch/Capgemini World Wealth Report showed that the number of high net worth individuals, meaning people worth $1m excluding their homes, plunged by 15% to 8.6m. The overall value of the world's wealthy dropped to $32.8 trillion, well below 2005 levels.
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