Europe Markets: Europe stocks drop again, led by Total, HSBC

By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch MADRID (MarketWatch) — European stock markets turned lower on Tuesday, giving up on an earlier attempt to push higher, with Total SA and HSBC Holdings PLC leading declines. The Stoxx Europe 600 index /quotes/zigman/2380150 XX:SXXP -3.86% Â*fell 1.8% to 224.92 in morning trade, after initial gains of over 1%. The index marked a new closing low for the year at 228.98 on Monday, a drop of 4.1%, which was the biggest one-day percentage fall since March 2, <a href="http://www.salehandbagsbags.com/"><strong>cheap Chanel handbags for sale</strong></a> 2009. Wall Street closed with sharp losses as investors reacted to the Standard & Poor's downgrade of U.S. debt that came Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/zigman/627449/delayed DJIA -5.55% Â*plunged 634.76 points, or 5.6%, to 10,809.85 Monday. The daily point and percentage loss was the worst since Dec. 1, 2008. The Federal Reserve will be in the spotlight Tuesday. It's due to release its monetary policy statement at 2:15 p.m. Eastern time. The Fed meeting "has the potential to be the next big driver for market sentiment amidst speculation that further stimulus is needed to give the fragile U.S. <a href="http://www.salehandbagsbags.com"><strong>cheap gucci handbags for sale</strong></a> economy a shot in the arm, and with equities having taken such a pummeling, the right noises here could see bargain hunters tempted back in, but this is far from a certainty," said Cameron Peacock, market analyst at IG Markets, in emailed comments. There were gains for some financial stocks, such as UniCredit SpA /quotes/zigman/172005 IT:UCG -0.47% Â*, up 3% and Swiss Re AG /quotes/zigman/5147547 CH:SREN -1.95% Â*, up 3%, but others like Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC /quotes/zigman/530544/quotes/nls/rbs RBS -15.81% Â*. /quotes/zigman/155978 UK:RBS -7.70% Â*slid 3.6%. Decliners still heavily outweighed gainers on the Stoxx 600 index. The German DAX 30 index /quotes/zigman/2380246 DX:DAX -5.23% Â*fell 1.2% to 5,8451.31, with <a href="http://www.salehandbagsbags.com"><strong>cheap dior handbags for sale</strong></a> shares of utility RWE AG /quotes/zigman/271645 DE:RWE -5.63% Â*off nearly 5% after reporting a 22% fall in first-half profit and cutting its forecasts for 2011. The French CAC 40 index /quotes/zigman/3173214 FR:PX1 -3.18% Â*fell 1.3% to 3,085.38, led by a 2% drop in oil group Total /quotes/zigman/167939 FR:FP -4.16% Â* /quotes/zigman/167990/quotes/nls/tot TOT -6.99% The FTSE 100 index /quotes/zigman/3173262 UK:UKX -3.86% Â*slid 2% to 4,966.22, with shares of HSBC /quotes/zigman/13843 UK:HSBA -5.34% Â* /quotes/zigman/207333/quotes/nls/hbc HBC -7.07% Â*slumping 2.5%. /quotes/zigman/167990/quotes/nls/tot <a href="http://lnx.u2place.net/u2foto/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=3"><strong >Men's Prada Sunglasses – The Best Fashionable Eyewear For Your Eye ...</strong></a> TOT -6.99% Barbara Kollmeyer is an editor for MarketWatch in Madrid.