European stocks retreated, following a decline in U.S. equities yesterday, as investors weighed comments by Federal Reserve policy makers on when to scale back the central bank's bond-buying program. U.S. index futures and Asian shares also slipped.

Tesco declined 3.9 percent to 350.2 pence after reporting that U.K. same-store sales, which exclude gasoline and value added tax, declined 1 percent in the 13 weeks ended May 25. The average estimate of 14 analysts in a Bloomberg survey had called for a drop of 0.7 percent. Sales rose 0.5 percent in the previous quarter.

Carrefour slumped 5.7 percent to 21.11 euros after HSBC downgraded France's biggest retailer to underweight, which is similar to a sell recommendation, from neutral. The brokerage said the company's profit in Europe may trail estimates as sales fall in Spain, Italy and Poland.

Elekta jumped 6.3 percent to 106.40 kronor. The Swedish manufacturer of radiation-surgery equipment forecast that full-year sales will climb more than 10 percent for the financial year ending in 2014, with most of the growth coming from emerging markets. The company said it broke its delivery records in the fourth quarter. It also reported full-year earnings that were in line with analyst estimates.

FTSE 100 6,481.56 -77.02 -1.17%

CAC 40 3,889.86 -35.97 -0.92%

DAX 8,229.59 -66.37 -0.80%