Europe stocks drop on Greece jitters, Catalonia

Europe stocks drop on Greece jitters, Catalonia
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets moved lower in early action on Monday, after Catalonian voters in Spain backed pro-independence parties in a election over the weekend, while investors got jittery ahead of another Eurogroup meeting on Greece. The Stoxx Europe 600 index (STX:XX:SXXP) slipped 0.2% to 272.75. Banks posted some of the biggest losses, with shares of Barclays PLC (LSS:UK:BARC) (NYSE:BCS) down 3.5% in London and shares of sector heavyweight HSBC Holdings PLC (LSS:UK:HSBA) (NYSE:HBC) [hk:5] off 0.6%. The FTSE 100 index (FTI:UK:UKX) gave up 0.1% to 5,811.73. Among German stocks, shares of ThyssenKrupp AG (FRAE:TKA) dropped 3.4% after a broker downgrade. The DAX 30 index (ITFXAX) lost 0.2% to 7,296.00. France's CAC 40 index (ENX:FRX1) fell 0.3% to 3,519.45, with shares of Societe Generale SA (EPA:FR:GLE) down 0.5%.