European stock decline amid corporate losses, Fed speculation

European stocks retreated on Friday, halting a week of gains, as Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Renault SA fell, while investors were inspecting the U.S. manufacturing data to find signs for the outlook for the Federal Reserve’s stimulus program.

The Stoxx 600 lost 0.3% to 321.5 points. The benchmark climbed 0.4% this week, yesterday closing at its highest level since May 2008, as the Federal Reserve would most likely reduce stimulus not earlier than March next year. Other benchmark indexes fell in 11 of the 16 western European markets open today. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 added less than 0.1%. Germany’s DAX lost 0.3%. France’s CAC 40 slid 0.6%.

In the U.S., the ISM manufacturing index climbed to 56.4 last month from September’s 56.2. Numbers above 50 indicate expansion. Economists had projected a drop to 55. The report follows data from China, where the official manufacturing gauge rose more than forecast to an 18-month high.

Asian stocks turn lower on Monday, losing earlier gains prompted by an upbeat reading in Chinas service sector, with Thailand falling due to continued political tensions. Hong Kongs Hang Seng Index was down 0.1% and the Shanghai Composite fell less than 0.1%. Australias S&P ASX 200 dropped 0.2% and South Koreas Kospi lost 0.5%. In Singapore, the Straits Times Index rose 0.1%.

In corporate news, Royal Bank of Scotland sank 7.5%, its biggest retreat since June 2012. Britain’s biggest publicly owned bank said it will write down as much as 4.5 billion pounds ($7.2 billion) in the fourth quarter after transferring 38.3 billion pounds of its riskiest loans to an internal bad bank. RBS also posted a net loss of 828 million pounds in the third quarter.

Renault dropped 5% to 61.29 euros. Nissan lowered its full-year profit forecast by 15%. Japan’s second-biggest car-maker expects to post net income of 355 billion yen ($3.6 billion) in the year ending March, compared with its previous estimate of 420 billion yen and the average projection of 440.3 billion yen in a Bloomberg survey.

OC Oerlikon Corp. added 3.5% to 13.15 Swiss francs. The largest textile-machinery maker appointed Brice Koch as chief executive officer, seven months after previous CEO Michael Buscher quit.