European stocks fell the most in a week, extending losses in the final half hour of trading, as companies including LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA and Statoil ASA posted earnings that missed forecasts.

German consumer confidence will increase in August to its highest level since December 2006, according to forecasts from GfK SE, a Nuremberg-based market research company. A separate report from the Ifo institute showed business confidence in Europe's largest economy slipped in July more than economists had forecast, for its third straight monthly decline.

National benchmark indexes declined in 13 of the 18 western-European markets. France's CAC 40 slid 1.8 percent, Germany's DAX slipped 1.5 percent, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell 0.4 percent.

LVMH lost 6.8 percent to 131.65 euros after saying first-half profit from recurring operations fell 5 percent to 2.58 billion euros. Analysts had predicted 2.76 billion euros. Asian demand weakened in the second quarter, led by slower Chinese spending, Chief Financial Officer Jean-Jacques Guiony said on a conference call. He also cited political unrest in Hong Kong and sales tax in Japan, and said the disappearance of a Malaysian passenger jet affected sales in Singapore and Thailand.

Christian Dior SA dropped 6.3 percent to 136.65 euros, Kering lost 4.9 percent to 151.50 euros, and Cie. Financiere Richemont SA declined 2.3 percent to 88.20 Swiss francs. A gauge of personal and household goods companies posted the third-worst performance of the 19 industries on the Stoxx 600.

Statoil fell 2.5 percent to 184 kroner. Norway's biggest energy company said adjusted earnings after tax dropped to 9.9 billion kroner ($1.6 billion) in the second quarter from 11.3 billion kroner a year earlier. That missed the 10.9 billion-krone average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Air France-KLM advanced 2.6 percent to 8.85 euros. The airline group posted operating profit of 238 million euros for the second quarter, up from 84 million euros a year earlier as it benefited from cost cuts, and announced another five-year plan to drive down expenses. That beat the median estimate of analysts for 190 million euros.

RBS rallied 11 percent to 364.2 pence after saying in an advance statement that first-half pretax profit increased to 2.65 billion pounds ($4.5 billion) from 1.37 billion pounds a year earlier. Operating profit probably jumped to 2.6 billion pounds from 708 million pounds, the lender said.

CaixaBank SA climbed 3.2 percent to 4.54 euros. The Spanish lender said second-quarter net income rose to 153 million euros from 73 million euros a year earlier, beating the 110.8 million-euro average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Charges for impaired assets dropped to 664 million euros from 925 million euros a year earlier, the bank said.

U.S. stock-index futures fell as earnings at Amazon.com Inc and Visa Inc. missed estimates.

Global markets:

Nikkei 15,457.87 +173.45 +1.13%

Hang Seng 24,216.01 +74.51 +0.31%

Shanghai Composite 2,126.61 +21.55 +1.02%

FTSE 6,812.78 -8.68 -0.13%

CAC 4,370.68 -39.97 -0.91%

DAX 9,739.15 -54.91 -0.56%

Crude oil $101.54 (-0.55%)

Gold $1295.20 (+0.34%)

(company / ticker / price / change, % / volume)

Upgrades:

Downgrades:

Amazon.com (AMZN) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley & Co.

Amazon.com (AMZN) downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James

General Motors (GM) downgraded to Outperform from Buy at Credit Agricole

Barrick Gold Corp (ABX) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at HSBC Securities

Exxon Mobil (XOM) downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays

Other:

Twitter (TWTR) initiated with a Mkt Perform at Raymond James

Starbucks (SBUX) target raised to $88 from $84 at Jefferies

European stock indexes fell slightly, but still showing growth in the week, as investors assess corporate reporting and data for Germany.

Among the European companies that reported, 40 percent fell short of analysts' forecasts compared to 28 percent of reported U.S. companies.

"Overall sentiment remains neutral as investors continue to prefer U.S. stocks European as quarterly results of U.S. companies largely exceeded expectations," - said a senior trader at Peregrine & Black Marcus Hubert.

As for the report on Germany, he showed that the July level of business confidence in Germany from the institute Ifo, fell again, thereby exceeded the forecasts of experts and fixing the third consecutive monthly deterioration. According to the report, the business climate index fell in July to a level of 108.0 points compared to 109.7 points last month, and economists' expectations at the level of 109.6 points. With regard to the current index, that he fell this month to the level of 112.9 points, which was also well below economists' expectations of 114.5 points. Recall that in June, the index stood at 114.8 points. We also learned that the expectations index deteriorated to 104.5 points, slightly exceeding the forecasts of experts 104.4 points. Last month, the value of this index was 104.8 points.

LVMH shares fell 7.0 percent because sales and profits in the second quarter fell short of analysts' forecasts due to the downturn in demand for its products in China. Richemont shares fell 2.1 percent, Burberry - 1.9 percent and Kering - by 3.3 percent.

Lafarge SA shares rose 0.5%. French cement maker slightly increased net profit in the second quarter due to cost-cutting, which allowed to neutralize the negative effects of exchange rate differences. Lafarge net profit in the second quarter rose by 2% - up to 205 million euros, sales fell by 5% - up to 3.37 billion euros. Analysts polled by FactSet Research, on average forecast net profit of the company at 244 million euros on sales of 3.43 billion euros.

Paper Danone SA - French yogurt maker - down by 0.3%. Operating profit in the first half amounted to 1.18 billion euros, confounding the average market forecast at 1.21 billion euros.

The value of shares Air France-KLM Group - French airline - jumped by 5.2%, due to the sharp reduction in net loss in the second quarter.

The cost of securities Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc rose by 14%. British bank doubled its pre-tax profit in the first half of 2014 and intends this year to meet the target of cutting costs by 1 billion pounds ($ 1.7 billion). During the session of the increase in prices of securities RBS is 15%.

Statoil ASA shares fell 2.9 percent. The biggest energy company in Norway said that the adjusted profit after tax fell to 9.9 billion kronor in the second quarter from 11.3 billion kronor a year earlier. Experts expected profit at 10.9 billion crowns.

At the moment:

FTSE 100 6,819.98 -1.48 -0.02%

CAC 40 4,383.8 -26.85 -0.61%

DAX 9,761.79 -32.27 -0.33%

(index / closing price / change items /% change)

Nikkei 225 15,284.42 -44.14 -0.29%

Hang Seng 24,141.5 +169.63 +0.71%

Shanghai Composite 2,105.06 +26.57 +1.28%

FTSE 100 6,821.46 +23.31 +0.34%

CAC 40 4,410.65 +34.33 +0.78%

Xetra DAX 9,794.06 +40.50 +0.42%

S&P 500 1,987.98 +0.97 +0.05%

NASDAQ 4,472.11 -1.59 -0.04%

Dow Jones 17,083.8 -2.83 -0.02%