German Stocks Hammered As Most European Markets Tumble

(RTTNews) - Europeans stocks were hammered on Thursday amid ongoing concerns about corporate earnings and geopolitical tensions.

The prospect of interest rate hikes in the U.S. and U.K. weighed on sentiment, and fears about the Portuguese banking system also cropped up.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks plunged 1.6 percent, and is now up only 0.3 percent on-year.

The German DAX lost 1.85 percent, the French CAC fell 1.5 percent and the FTSE of the UK slipped 0.64 percent.

Adidas shares plummeted 15 percent. The sports goods giant scaled back revenue expectations for this year, citing recent developments in Russia and continued weakness in the golf market.

Deutsche Lufthansa tumbled 7 percent. The aviation group reported first-half net loss of 79 million euros, down sharply from 203 million euros last year.

Siemens was flat after posting higher net income of 1.40 billion euros in the third quarter of 2014, versus 1.10 billion euros last year.

Fresenius SE gained 3.8 percent after the healthcare company raised its full-year outlook for sales.

Metro shares dropped 6 percent after the German department store operator said it swung to a third-quarter loss of 63 million euros, versus a profit of 33 million euros last year.

Banco Espirito Santo SA shares lost 30 percent as Portugal's central bank ordered the lender to raise fresh capital.

Carrefour SA shares lost 4.5 percent in Paris despite the French supermarket operator reporting a sharp increase in first-half profit.

Dutch Shell Plc. gained 2.5 percent in London. The European oil giant reported a significant increase in second-quarter profit, amid improvement in revenues.

Tour operator Thomas Cook Group Plc. inched higher after reporting higher underlying earnings before interest and tax for the third quarter, despite lower revenues.

Balfour Beatty Plc slid 6 percent as the U.K. construction company ended talks to merge with rival British builder Carillion Plc.

BNP Paribas lost 1 percent. The French lender reported a hefty loss of 4.317 billion euros for the second quarter after setting aside 5.75 billion euros to help cover fines for violating U.S. economic sanctions.

Drug maker Sanofi gained 2.3 percent after posting strong second-quarter results and raising its full-year profit forecast.

On the economic front, German retail sales rose 1.3 percent in June after falling for three consecutive months, provisional data from Destatis showed.

The country's jobless rate remained steady at 6.7 percent in July, unchanged for a fourth month, while the number of unemployed fell by 12,000 after rising in May and June.