European Stocks Drop as Russia Faces Tougher Sanctions.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-21/european-stock-index-futures-advance-amid-earnings.html

European stocks fell, after posting a weekly gain, as the U.S. and Europe threatened tougher sanctions on Russia over its suspected role in the shooting down of flight MH17 in Ukrainian airspace. U.S. index futures slid, while Asian shares pared gains.

Commerz bank AG dropped 2.2 percent after a report that Germany’s financial-markets regulator found high operational risks at the country’s second-biggest lender. Deutsche Post AG lost 1.7 percent after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered its earnings and stock-price estimate for Europe’s largest postal company. Julius Baer Group Ltd. jumped the most since July 2013 after saying first-half profit rose 56 percent.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.4 percent to 338.18 at 12:47 p.m. in London. The gauge pared losses in the final hour of trading on July 18 and futures on the Euro Stoxx 50 rose later that day as concerns eased over the Ukraine crisis. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index contracts slipped 0.2 percent today, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.1 percent.

“The conflict in Gaza, the Ukraine crisis -- these are the main topics,” Soeren Steinert, who helps manage about $24 billion as associate director for equities trading at Quoniam Asset Management GmbH in Frankfurt, said in a phone interview. “I can’t see any panic selling. It is only just that people are not willing to buy. There is no conviction that the market should be falling further.”

The volume of shares changing hands in Stoxx 600-listed companies was 32 percent lower than the 30-day average for this time of the day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.