European Markets Slide Ahead Of Ministers' Meet

(RTTNews) - The European markets were in negative territory on Monday, as Eurozone finance ministers gather in Brussels to discuss how to proceed with Greek debt funding. EU finance ministers ended their talks last week without any major breakthrough on the future course of action on Greece. They will continue their negotiations later today.

On a day of very little economic news, Eurostat reported that the euro area trade surplus increased in December as the decline in imports was faster than a fall in exports.

The trade surplus increased to a seasonally adjusted 23.3 billion euros in December from 21.6 billion euros in November. Economists had forecast a surplus of 19 billion euros.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks was losing 0.17 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, was falling 0.12 percent.

The German DAX, the French CAC 40 and the FTSE 100 index of the U.K. were in the red, while Switzerland's SMI was modestly higher.

In Frankfurt, K+S slipped 1.1 percent. Fresenius Medical Care and Deutsche Boerse were losing 0.9 percent each.

BMW was notably lower, while Daimler and Volkswagen gained modestly.

Commerzbank rose 2.1 percent and Deutsche Bank advanced 1.3 percent.

In Paris, Legrand dropped 1.6 percent and Danone slipped 1.3 percent.

GDF Suez, Veolia Environnement and LVMH fell moderately.

Carmaker Renault was gaining 2.1 percent, and lender BNP Paribas climbed 1.6 percent.

Builder Bouygues gained 3.3 percent, and oil services provider Technip added 2.8 percent.

In London, Intertek fell 3.2 percent and Fresnillo was down 3 percent.

Centrica and SSE declined 2.8 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.

Tullow Oil climbed 2.3 percent. SAB Miller and Aberdeen Asset Management gained 1.8 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.

Hennes and Mauritz was moderately lower in Stockholm. The retailer reported sales data for January.

Actelion, which reported full year earnings, gained 2.3 percent in Zurich.

The Asian stocks rose broadly, following a record close on Wall Street Friday, buoyed by a report which showed Japan's economy recovered from recession in the last quarter of 2014.

In the U.S., futures point to a lower open on Wall Street. In the previous session, stocks rose as rising oil prices boosted energy stocks and investors shrugged off data showing a sharp pullback in U.S. consumer sentiment in February.

The Dow rose 0.3 percent and the S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent to set a fresh record high, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 0.8 percent to its highest level since early 2000.

Crude for March delivery dropped $0.50 to $52.28 per barrel, while gold advanced $6.6 to $1233.7 a troy ounce.