European stocks resumed its downtrend in early trade, ahead of a key speech from Fed's Chairman Mr. Bernanke and US growth data. Stocks alos struggled in Asia, extending its week of losses as lingering worries over the state of the global recovery continues to wreak havoc sentiment.
On the currency market domain, a rising yen, considered a safe asset class when uncertainty knocks on the door, is at 15-yr low, helping little to keep equities afloat. The risk-off scenario, intensified over the course of this week, may get even bleaker should the upcoming US GDP fail to deliver a "doubtful" promising result.
In Britain, GDP preliminary reading for the second quarter reached 1.2%, improving slightly from a 1.1% expected. The FTSE-100 was off 0.40%, not much changed from before the report. CAC-40 declined 0.70% while the DAX was 0.32%. Energy companies were hit by falling oil prices, while no further relevant news were made public on M&A activity.
