6:30AM Europe sheds more than 2% on growth worries.
European markets were down in mid morning trading. The FTSE 100 in London lost 2.2% to settle at 5,583.3, while the Xetra Dax in Frankfurt was off 2.3% to 5,417.64 and the CAC-40 in Paris declined 2.5%, stand at 4,704.83. The biggest decliners among the broad based fall were London listed miners with Xstrata off 6.2% and Antofagasta shedding 3.9%. Growth concerns struck industrial groups with Atlas Copco edging 5% down and Thyssen Krupp plunging 4.9%. Auto stocks also performed badly with BMW, shedding 0.4%, Porsche dropping 2.3% , Volkswagen slipping 1% and DaimlerChrysler declining 1.9%.France’s Renault dived 2.8% and Italy’s Fiat lost 2.8%.

Light sweet crude oil for July delivery dropped $1.15 cents to $69.67 a barrel and July Brent crude futures on London''s ICE Futures exchange lost 28 cents to $68.91 a barrel. Gold bullion started trading Thursday at a bid price of $621.85 a troy ounce, higher than $621.25 late Wednesday. The dollar rose slightly against the euro. In morning European trading, the euro purchased $1.2772, down from $1.2794 in New York on Thursday. The British pound eased to $1.8549 from $1.8560 in New York, while the dollar advanced to buy 113.76 Japanese yen from 113.46 yen the day before.