BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks were flat to slightly lower on Thursday as investors fretted about slowing growth and reacted to a mixed bag of earnings news.
The pan European Stoxx 600 was down 0.1 percent at 390.62 after ending down 0.1 percent on Wednesday.
The German DAX and France's CAC 40 index were little changed with a negative bias while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was losing 0.4 percent.
Carrefour jumped 3 percent after its revenue growth accelerated in the first quarter, driven by robust sales in Brazil and improved performance in the French market.
Germany's Commerzbank fell nearly 3 percent after rival Deutsche Bank announced the banks decided to discontinue talks for a potential combination.
Deutsche Bank, which issued its first-quarter outlook, was up modestly.
Finnish telecom network equipment maker Nokia slumped 9 percent after it reported a surprise first-quarter loss, citing hard competition in its core networks business.
Switzerland's biggest bank UBS gained 1 percent after its first-quarter profit topped forecasts.
British lender Barclays lost 2.6 percent after posting a mixed set of results amid tough market conditions.
Sainsbury declined 4.6 percent after Britain's competition regulator blocked the retailer's proposed 7.3 billion pound ($9.4 billion) takeover of Walmart owned Asda.
Germany's Bayer rallied 2.3 percent after it posted a 45 percent gain in quarterly core earnings on the back of seed maker Monsanto's acquisition.
Tech companies such as ASM and Dialog Semiconductor jumped 9 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively on posting solid first-quarter results.
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