European stocks fell Friday as credit concerns continued to linger in the markets and fears remained that corporate earnings could be hit by a weakening U.S. economy, according to AP. «Clearly the credit crisis has further to run and it may only be in the first quarter of 2008, after the auditors have made their judgments, that we learn the full extent of the writedowns,» said Jeremy Batstone-Carr at Charles Stanley. The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index lost 0.9 percent to 362.7. In national markets, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell 1.1 percent to 6291.2 _ below the 6300 level for the first time since early September _ while France's CAC-40 Index dipped 0.7 percent to 5523.6. Germany's DAX Index fell 0.7 percent to 7612.3. Concerns about a possible recession in the U.S. intensified Friday as U.S industrial production figures fell short of consensus expectations. Industrial output fell by 0.5 percent in October, well below expectations, while manufacturing output was also disappointing, declining 0.4 percent. «Almost all data released recently point to a significant slowdown in economic activity in the fourth quarter,» said Marie-Pierre Ripert, U.S. economist at IXIS Corporate and Investment Bank. Financial stocks were in focus Friday, amid further evidence that earnings damage is beginning to take its toll, as Belgian lender Dexia reported that its second-quarter profits have been hit by the credit crunch. Dexia reported a 28 percent fall in net profit in the third quarter. Its shares lost 7.7 percent while the DJ banking sector as a whole fell 1.7 percent. «Unless there is an unexpected rebound in the credit markets before year-end, we expect more bad news here in the fourth quarter,» said UBS of Dexia in a research note.
