MARKET COMMENT: SocGen, ING Drag Europe Stocks Sharply Lower - Wall Street Journal

LONDON (Dow Jones)--European stock markets ended lower Monday on increased fears that Greece is headed for default, as French banks led losses on speculation they could be downgraded over their exposure to that troubled euro-zone nation.

"This is an environment in which normal rules don't hold anymore," said Peter Dixon, strategist at Commerzbank. "This is fear, uncertainty and all the other nasty things associated with market panics. You can forget fundamentals, valuations."

The Stoxx Europe 600 index slid 2.5% to close at 218.93.

The market closed down 2.6% on Friday, rattled by news that Juergen Stark, a member of the ...