European Stocks Fall as Greece Talks Seem Hopeless; Bwin.party Plummets

London (Jun 12)  The real action on the markets this morning was in Athens, where yesterday's stock market hike has turned to a rout. The International Monetary Fund has walked out of Greek debt talks, and European Union Commission president Jean-Claude Junker has reportedly told colleagues that Greece has "lost the European Commission." The Athens General Index was down at one point in the morning to as low as 788.89 -- a fall of 4.2% on yesterday's close. The biggest losers were the Greek banks, with Alpha Bank (ALBKY) down 4.23% at 32 euro cents, Piraeus Bank (BPIRY) down 5.68% at 45 euro cents and National Bank of Greece (NBG) down 6.78% at €1.10.

In London, the FTSE 100 was down 0.33% at 6,824.32, while in Paris, the CAC 40 was down 0.19% at 4,61.95. In Frankfurt, the DAX was down 0.05% at 11,326.69. The Athens General Index had recovered somewhat during the course of the morning, but was still down 2.26% in early afternoon local time at 804.53.