MW: European shares sharply lower in early trading
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European shares fell sharply on Thursday after a raft of companies updated on earnings and sales. Technology shares led the decline, with Ericsson (SE:ERICB 74.00, +1.40, +1.93%) (ERIC 10.74, +0.36, +3.47%) shares down 8% after the telecom equipment maker reported that its third-quarter sales fell 6%. Miners were also weak, with Lonmin (UK:LMI 1,659, -41.00, -2.42%) shares down 3.1% and Anglo American (UK:AAL 2,231, -45.00, -1.98%) shares down 1.8%. Nestle (CH:NESN 45.84, -0.46, -0.99%) shares fell 1.1%. The Swiss food giant posted a 3.8% rise in third-quarter organic sales. The U.K. FTSE 100 index fell 1.4% to 5,184.07, the German DAX index lost 1.6% tp 5,740.97 and the French CAC-40 index dropped 1.5% to 3,816.42.
