Wednesday 13th May

European shares finished the day down 2.77 percent with financials and miners the biggest losers.

Investors reacted negatively to worse than expected US retail sales. They fell by 0.4 percent in April with purchases of fuel and electronic goods particularly sluggish. The March sales figures were also revised downwards. Rio Tinto slumped 10.6 percent on a report it it may sell new shares. Top Dutch financial-services company ING reported its third straight quarterly loss. The dollar rebounded from a four-month low, rallying against sterling after the Bank of England said UK inflation will remain anaemic and UK growth would shrink sharply in coming months before recovering at a slower pace than previously thought.

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