World stocks fell today and the euro continued to slide as Europe's shaky government finances and concerns about slower growth in China made investors jittery, AP reported. London's FTSE index was down over 101 points, or 1.96 percent, at 5086.97. The CAC 40 index of leading French shares was down more than 73 points, or 2.09 percent, at 3,434.18, while Germany's DAX dropped over 103 points, or 1.73 percent, to 5,861.28. The euro was down 1.1 percent at $1.22, while the British pound rose 0.2 percent to $1.45. «The European crisis has brought back the bear market,» said Marc Touati, an economist at Paris-based brokerage Global Equities. «Investors are getting jumpy at almost anything. It is not related to economic sense.» Confidence may start to return if employment data from the U.S. expected Friday is good, he said. Shares in BP PLC plunged over 15 percent to 420.30 pence ($6.13) on the London Stock Exchange. Because of a bank holiday, Tuesday was the first day of London trading after the oil company's failed attempt over the weekend to block the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. BP said that costs for the spill have reached $990 million. Wall Street appeared to be in store for further losses as surveys showing that growth in China's manufacturing had slowed underlined fears that Asian manufacturers and exporters remain vulnerable to waning of demand in Europe and elsewhere. -- SPA
