Markets were also substantially lower in Europe on Thursday.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 3.21 percent lower to 1,443.89.

The Dax dropped 2.36 percent to 7,270.07 in Frankfurt and the CAC-40 was down 3.26 percent to 5,265.47 in Paris.

In Madrid, the IBEX fell 3.68 percent to 13,986.4.

There were no winners on either the CAC-40 or the Dax on the session.

The biggest loser on the Dax was stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse (FWB: DB1), which was 6.57 percent lower to €75.13, while the worst performance on the CAC-40 came from steel tubes manufacturer Vallourec (Euronext: VK) at 7.93 percent lower to €171.85.

Car and truck makers fell substantially.

BMW (FWB: BMW) dropped 4.23 percent to €34.99, while Renault (Euronext: RNO) was 4.42 percent lower to €91.20 and truck maker Man (FWB: EDF1) declined 6.38 percent to €96.07.

Builders and construction materials providers dropped in France.

Bouygues (Euronext: EN), which has holdings in both the construction sector and in media, was 4.36 percent lower to €50.88, while construction group Vinci (Eurnoext: DG) fell 4.48 percent to €46.70 and construction materials group Lafarge (Euronext: LG; NYSE: LR) dropped 5.09 percent to €108.43.

Property group Unibail (Euronext: UL) was down 5.9 percent to €161.50, while financial planners MLP (FWB: MLP) was down 4.17 percent to €11.50.

Among banks, Deutsche Bank (FWB: DBK; NYSE: DB) fell 1.9 percent to €91.65 and BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP; TYO: 8665) dropped 3.1 percent to €74.67.

European markets went into reverse again on Friday.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 1.34 percent lower to 1,516.42.

The IBEX was 0.98 percent lower to 14,534.3 in Madrid, while the Dax fell 1.31 percent to 7,435.67 and the Paris CAC-40 was down 1.48 percent to 5,597.89.

Volkswagen (FWB: VOW; OTC: VLKAY) had the best day on the Dax as it added 1.18 percent to €139.04, but the sector was mixed as BMW (FWB: BMW) fell 2.5 percent to €35.19.

Truck maker Man (FWB: EDF1) gained 0.43 percent to €105.67.

Airlines were also mixed.

Lufthansa (FWB: LHA) was 0.67 percent higher to €20.97, but Air France (Euronext: AF; NYSE: AKH) dropped 2.25 percent to €32.56.

Commerzbank (FWB: CBK) had the worst day on the Dax, falling 4.24 percent to €29.13, while in Paris construction materials group Lafarge (Euronext: LG; NYSE: LR) was 4.07 percent lower to €120.10 for the worst performance on the CAC-40.

Other decliners included industrial gases group Linde (FWB: LIN), which was down 2.67 percent to €86.54.

Chemicals group BASF (FWB: BFA; NYSE: BF) fell 2.18 percent to €91.65.

In the oil sector, Total (Euronext: FP; NYSE: TOT) was down on lower prices for Brent crude and as Citigroup (NYSE: C) downgraded of the sector from “overweight” to “neutral” and suggested that investors put their money in raw materials producers instead.

European markets saw big losses on the session Friday as investors worried about problems in the US housing sector.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 dropped 1.16 percent to 1,599.63. In Frankfurt the Dax was 1.46 percent lower to 7,874.85, while the CAC-40 fell 1.79 percent to 5,957.16 in Paris.

Madrid’s IBEX dropped 1.82 percent to 14,930.1.

The Dax and the CAC-40 each had only two gainers on the session.

The best performer on the Dax was in the pharmaceuticals sector, where Schering (FWB: SCH) added 0.28 percent to €104.83.

The other gainer there was Volkswagen (FWB: VOW; OTC: VLKAY), which gained 0.21 percent to €121.79.

In Paris, meanwhile, the automobile manufacturing sector had the biggest winner of the day as Peugeot (Euronext: UG; OTC: PEUGY) was up 1.36 percent to €63.96.

Carmakers remained mixed, however, as DaimlerChrysler (FWB: DCX; NYSE: DCX; TYO: 7663) fell 2.47 percent to €65.16.

As on the Dax, the other gainer of the day on the CAC-40 was in the pharmaceuticals sector.

Sanofi (Euronext: SAN; NSYE: SNY) was 0.32 percent higher to €62.46.

The worst performance came from steel good manufacturer Vallourec (Euronext: VK), which was 4.89 percent lower to €216.18 on the news that it will sell two firms to Arcelor-Mittal (Euronext: MT; NYSE: MT).

The construction sector in Paris was lower, with Vinci (Euronext: DG) down 2.48 percent to €55.77 and Lafarge (Euronext: LG) falling 3.64 percent to €126.75.

Banks also declined.

Societe Generale (Euronext: GLE) was 2.29 percent lower to €135.54, while Commerzbank (FWB: CBK) was down 2.77 percent to €33.73 on concerns about the US housing market and BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP; TYO: 8665) dropped 2.99 percent to €84.24.

In the oil sector, Total (Euronext: FP; NSYE: TOT) fell 2.73 percent to €59.47.

Markets in Europe were higher on Friday, with the FTSE Eurofirst 300 adding 0.39 percent to 1,627.68.

In Paris, the CAC-40 was 0.24 percent higher to 6,117.96, while the Dax gained 0.49 percent to 8,092.77 in Frankfurt and the IBEX was up 0.55 percent to 15,023.5.

Financial services-related shares did well on the session.

Among banks BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP; TYO: 8665) added 0.71 percent to €87.37, while Credit Agricole (Euronext: ACA) gained 0.99 percent to €29.72 and Deutsche Bank (FWB: DBK; NYSE: DB) was 1.47 percent higher to €107.71.

Insurance-focused groups also gained, with Allianz (FWB: ALV; NYSE: AZ) up 1.22 percent to €173.12 and Axa adding 1.87 percent to €32.64 for the best performance of the session on the CAC-40.

Financial services group Marschollek (FWB: MLPG), now known as MLP, gained 5.4 percent to €15.89 as the day’s best performer on the Dax.

Other sectors seeing gains on the day included utilities, as EDF (Euronext: EEN) added 0.79 percent to €76.76.

In the chemicals sector, BASF (FWB: BAS; LSE: BFA; NYSE: BF) was up 1.87 percent to €98.88 on an increased target share price, from €92 to €105, issued by UBS (NYSE: UBS; SWX: UBSN; TYO: 8657).

Schneider Electric (Euronext: SCHN) gained 1.51 percent to €104.77 after Citibank (NYSE: C) raised it recommendation from “hold” to “buy” and on compensation granted in a judgment that grew out of a blocked bid for Legrand (Euronext: LR).

Carmakers saw declines to end the week, with Renault (Euronext: RNO) falling 0.5 percent to €116.66 and DaimlerChrysler (FWB: DCX; NYSE: DCX; TYO: 7663) dropping 0.85 percent to €68.78.

Groupe Danone (Euronext: BN; NSYE: DA) was 3.36 percent lower to €57.02.

Construction group Vinci (Euronext: DG) was 0.69 percent lower to €57.30, while building materials company Lafarge (Euronext: LG) fell 0.54 percent to €133.81.

Airline Lufthansa (FWB: LHA) was down 0.82 percent to €20.58.

Equities markets saw significant gains on Thursday after two days of wide declines.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 1.19 percent to 1,620.18. The IBEX gained 1.19 percent to 14,941.8 in Madrid, while the Paris CAC-40 was 1.7 percent higher to 6,103.05 and the Dax was up 1.96 percent to 8,053.43.

The engineering sector did very well on the day, with the best performance on both the Dax and in Paris.

In Frankfurt, Siemens (FWB: SIE; NYSE: SI) gained 3.87 percent to €110.82, while in Paris engineering and power generation group Alstom (Euronext: ALO) was 8.45 percent higher to €135.60.

Builders and those that furnish materials to them were higher in Paris.

Construction group Vinci (Euronext: EG) added 4 percent to €57.70, while cement and construction materials provider Lafarge (Euronext: LG) gained 2.1 percent to €134.54.

Other gainers included stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse (FWB: DB1), which was 3.84 percent higher to ¥89.75 and chipmaker Infineon (FWB: IFX; NYSE: IFX) with a gain of 3.63 percent to €13.41.

In the oil sector, Total (Euronext: FP; NYSE: TOT) added 3.02 percent to €62.38.

The biggest loser on the CAC-40 was hotels operator Accor (Euronext: AC), which dropped 1.48 percent to ¥71.88.

On the Dax, the only decliner of the session was financial services group Marschollek (FWB: MLPG), which fell 0.2 percent to €15.22.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 0.4 percent higher to 1,357.94 on Thursday as much of the Italian banking sector saw gains on the day. The success of the sector also sent the S&P/MIB index in Italy up by 1.2 percent to 37,733.

The major exception to the gains in Italian banks was UniCredit, which was 0.4 percent lower to €6.207. Banca Intesa and Sanpaolo IMI were both higher on news that they are in talks toward a merger which, if completed, would create Italy’s second largest bank, behind UniCredit. Intesa was 7.6 percent higher to €5.025, while Sanpaolo added 6.1 percent to €15.558. Elsewhere in Italy, Mediobanca was up 5.1 percent to €17.064 and Capitalia advanced by 2.9 percent to €6.763.

Other gainers included Swatch, which added 4.3 percent to SFr47 on higher profits and sales. Credit Suisse issued positive comments on the Swiss watchmaker. In the telecommunications equipment sector, Ericsson added 0.9 percent to SKr22.90 on the announcement that it had secured a $1 billion contract with Indian telecom Bharti Airtel to upgrade and expand its network. EADS gained back part of its losses earlier in the week that were due to concerns over delays in two big development projects, adding 2.5 percent to €22.60.

The oil sector saw declines after gasoline inventories in the United States rose unexpectedly last week. Statoil dropped 0.9 percent to NKr176, while Neste Oil declined by 1 percent to €25.42.

Cement maker Holcim dropped 1.2 percent to SFr98 even though profits in the first half were up b y 44 percent. Holcim’s German rival Heidelberg Cement also dropped 1.2 percent, to €97.50, while Lafarge dropped 0.3 percent to €99.30. All were affected by the news out of the United States on Wednesday that house sales are down, raising concerns about construction markets around the world.