European stocks further declined after disappointing preliminary data on manufacturing and service sector activity in France, Germany and the Eurozone. Markets are awaiting the release of U.S. data on initial jobless claims, consumer price indices, existing home sales and the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey later in today's session giving further indication of economic growth in the world's largest economy. The FTSE 100 index is currently trading -0.63% at 6,654.60 points, Germany's DAX 30 is down -0.71% trading at 9,405.25 points and France's CAC 40 lost -1.18% currently quoted at 4,215.73 points.