European Stocks Drop on Greece Impasse

European (SXXP) stocks fell for the fourth time in five days as the region’s finance ministers held back approval of a rescue package for Greece. U.S. index futures and Asian shares also retreated.

Barclays Plc (BARC) declined 2.8 percent after saying full-year profit dropped 16 percent as investment-banking revenue shrank. Saab AB (SAABB) slipped 1.5 percent after fourth-quarter earnings and sales missed analysts’ estimates. National Grid Plc (NG/) lost 2.5 percent after JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded its recommendation on the shares. Next Plc (NXT) rose after Deutsche Bank AG advised buying the stock.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slid 0.4 percent to 262.56 at 8:12 a.m. in London. The gauge has still advanced 7.4 percent this year amid optimism that the euro area will contain its sovereign-debt crisis and that the economic recovery in the U.S. remains intact. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 0.5 percent, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 1.5 percent.

The Stoxx 600 rose yesterday as Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said leaders supporting his government reached an agreement on austerity measures.

European (SXXP) finance ministers, meeting in Brussels yesterday, held back a rescue package for Greece reflecting the euro area’s frustration with the country’s bickering politicians and the prospect that they may again backtrack on fiscal commitments not passed into law.

Future of Greece

Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said the parliamentary vote set to begin this weekend amounted to a ballot on euro membership.

“If we see the salvation and future of the country in the euro area, in Europe, we have to do whatever we have to do to get the program approved,” Venizelos said after the Brussels meeting.

China’s exports fell and imports slid more than forecast in January, the first declines in two years, as a week-long holiday disrupted trade and commodity prices dropped.

Barclays, the 322-year-old British bank fell 2.8 percent to 226.55 euros. Net income for 2011 fell to 3 billion pounds ($4.74 billion) from 3.56 billion pounds a year earlier, the U.K.’s third-largest bank by assets said in a statement today. That was lower than the 3.27 billion-pound median estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Saab, Rexel

Saab declined 1.5 percent to 147 kronor. The Swedish company reported a fourth-quarter net income of 413 million kronor against analysts’ projection for 474 million kronor.

Rexel SA (RXL) added 3.9 percent to 15.84 euros. The world’s largest distributor of electrical equipment said fourth-quarter net income fell 1.8 percent to 60.4 million euros. The company’s net income of 319 million euros for 2011 fell short of analysts’ estimate of 367 million euros, according to a survey of estimates from 10 analysts.

National Grid slid 2.5 percent to 624 pence after its stock was cut to “neutral” from “overweight” at JPMorgan.

Total SA dropped 1.1 percent to 40.69 euros. The company plans to cut net investments to $20 billion in 2012, compared with $22 billion last year. Adjusted net income in the fourth quarter was 2.73 billion euros, in line with the average analyst estimate of 2.72 billion euros.

Next, the U.K’s second-largest clothing retailer, advanced 0.9 percent to 2,743 pence after the shares were raised to “buy” from “hold” at Deutsche Bank AG.

Alcatel-Lucent, France’s largest telecommunications- equipment supplier, jumped 19 percent to 1.79 euros euros after it said it expects to increase adjusted operating margins in 2012.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Stoukas in Athens at astoukas@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net