European stocks continued their downward trend Tuesday, on the news of slow GDP growth in both Germany and the euro zone as a whole during the second quarter.
The DAX closed down 0.45 percent, the CAC 40 closed down 0.25 percent and the FTSE MIB finished the day down 0.87 percent. Only the FTSE 100 managed to post a gain, closing up 0.13 percent.
As the markets prepared to close, Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel and France’s president Nicolas Sarkozy met Tuesday afternoon with the aim of tackling the European debt crisis.
During a press conference following their meeting, Sarkozy and Merkel pledged to strengthen and develop the euro. They also proposed an “economic government” for the euro zone, which will meet twice a year, and a new financial transactions tax. Merkel also appeared to rule out the possibility of euro bonds — debt backed by all euro zone countries — which she described as “a last resort.”
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In terms of luxury and retail stocks, Burberry closed down 2.02 percent Tuesday, Richemont was down 1.07 percent and Hugo Boss finished down 2.49 percent.