European markets mostly down on China, ECB and German Court

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - Downbeat comments from China are weighing on the European markets, especially resource firms. Financial stocks are also on the red after a WSJ report stating that the ECB wants holders of senior bonds issued by struggling banks to suffer losses.

Also, news that it will take the German Constitutional Court until September 12th to issue a ruling on the ESM is hurting market sentiment.

The German DAX 30 is up by 0.25%, but the French CAC 40 sheds -0.15%, the Italian FTSE MIB loses -0.30% and the Spanish IBEX falls by -0.45%.

Futures for the American S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and Dow Jones 30 are signaling a lower open by -0.25% ahead of US retail sales for June: "With weakening labor market activity and continued anxiety about the economic outlook, consumer spending activity is expected to remain fairly subdued in June, with headline retail sales advancing at a very modest 0.1% M/M pace", wrote TD Securities analysts. WTI crude oil is at 86.60 (-0.50%) and Gold drops to 1585 (-0.28%).