By Sarah Turner
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European shares fell early on Thursday, extending sharp losses from the previous session, amid a deluge of corporate earnings. Oil and gas companies led the decline as Royal Dutch Shell (UK:RDSA 1,850, -60.00, -3.14%) (RDS.A 61.82, -0.94, -1.50%) shares fell 3.2% after the firm reported third-quarter results. Other companies updating investors included German chemicals giant BASF (DE:BAS 36.49, -0.34, -0.92%) , down 4.2%, Axa (FR:CS 16.98, -0.20, -1.14%) , down 2.3% and Deutsche Bank (DE:DBK 47.84, -0.72, -1.48%) , down 6%. The U.K. FTSE 100 index dropped 0.6% to 5,049.75, the German DAX index fell 0.5% to 5,471.27 and the French CAC-40 index lost 0.4% to 3,649.60. |
