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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: StanX Long who wrote (60578)	2/15/2002 2:38:12 AM
From: StanX Long	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 70976

European Stocks May Fall, Led by Phone Shares; Lloyds May Drop By Alistair Barr quote.bloomberg.com London, Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- European stocks may decline, led by phone companies after Standard & Poor's cut its rating on Qwest Communications International Inc.'s debt. KPNQwest NV, Telefonica Moviles SA and Sonera Oyj may drop after their U.S.- traded shares fell. Lloyds TSB Group Plc may decline after reporting full-year profit that missed forecasts of analysts. February futures on France's benchmark CAC 40 Index fell 21 points to 4415. The benchmark U.K. FT-SE 100 index may open 10 points lower, while the Germany's DAX may rise 20 points, according to IG Group Plc, a financial spread betting firm. The U.S. Standard & Poor's 500 index declined 0.2 percent, led by Qwest. Japan's Nikkei 225 average slid 0.3 percent. ``The problem for telecom companies, in particular, is less the amount of debt than the fact that it has to be refinanced,'' said Michael O'Sullivan, a strategist at Commerzbank Securities, in a note to clients. ``Any concerns in the corporate debt markets are immediately translated into the equity market.'' More than 70 billion euros of telecom debt has to be refinanced between now and 2005, Commerzbank estimates. The American depositary receipts of KPNQwest, the Dutch data network company controlled by Qwest, fell 4.4 percent below its Dutch-listed stock. ADRs of Telefonica Moviles SA, the mobile phone unit of Telefonica SA, ended 3.1 percent lower. U.S.-traded shares of Sonera Oyj, the Finnish phone company, closed 2.5 percent lower. Forecasts Qwest, the fourth-biggest local phone company had its long- term corporate-credit rating reduced because of the company's debt levels. Qwest also borrowed $1.1 billion from banks because it couldn't get money from money-market investors. After exchanges closed, Qwest said it was drawing down its entire $4 billion bank line.