European shares were stuck in the red yesterday afternoon as investors digested a slew of earnings reports, with Philips Electronics down after failing to give a more detailed outlook for next year.
Wall Street also eased in early trading after hitting 16-month highs on Monday, but losses were limited amid good earnings numbers from financial giants Merrill Lynch and Bank of America.
The scorecards gave European peers such as Credit Suisse and ING a boost.
Also on a bright note, Sweden's roller bearings maker SKF jumped after posting a fall in third-quarter pre-tax profit that was less than expected and saying that demand was on the rise.
But the chemical sector eased as French chemical company Rhodia slid 6.6 per cent to €4.25 after Deutsche Bank cut its rating on the stock to "sell" from "hold" following the company's profit warning.
Some healthcare stocks also were under pressure after the Wall Street Journal reported that US regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, may allow some generic drug makers to use a faster approval process for their copy-cat rival treatments. By 1402 GMT, the FTSE Eurotop 300 index was off 0.5 per cent at 912 points, with more than two shares falling for each one rising.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index eased 0.5 per cent to 2,549 points.
Fund managers said the market had been anticipating solid figures from firms such as Philips in Europe and Merrill Lynch in the US.
"Everybody was expecting good numbers. All this is just some profit-taking. Philips, for one, has run up quite strongly in past weeks," said Andrea Williams, head of European equities at Royal London Asset Management.
Firms would need to unveil major surprises on the upside to rack up further gains for now, but markets generally are expected to end the year above current levels, Williams said.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average shed 0.2 per cent to 9,741 points, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.27 per cent to 1,928 points. The Eurotop 300 index is still only some 20 points away from the 8-1/2 month high it hit in early September.