European Stocks Pare Drop as Investors Assess Value After Rout
- Oil slides as OPEC said to have set higher output ceiling
- Axa bucks trend to advance on promise of higher dividends
European stocks pared declines in late trading as investors assessed valuations, after lingering disappointment with Mario Draghi’s stimulus measures and OPEC’s output target earlier sent the Stoxx Europe 600 Index toward its lowest level in more than six weeks.
The Stoxx 600 slipped 0.4 percent to a three-week low at the close of trading. A fillip from better-than-expected U.S. jobs data proved short-lived, with the index extending losses to as much as 1.2 percent after energy-related companies reversed earlier gains when oil slid. Disillusionment with the European Central Bank president’s announcement dragged the index to its biggest loss since August yesterday, contributing to a selloff that wiped about $270 billion from the value of global equities.