European stock exchanges have opened this morning with losses. After yesterday’s profitable results, investors were holding back. Bad news on the US economy also affected the mood.

In Amsterdam, the AEX-index of the most popular funds were 1.8 percent lower just before noon at 308.83 points. After a couple of hours of trading, the MidKap-index was down 1.4 percent at 503.34 points. In Frankfurt, London and Paris, the indexes fell by between 1.4 and 1.7 percent.

This is in contrast with yesterday’s high in which all Europe’s main indicators gained over 2 percent. News from the United States that the service sector had grown more sluggishly than expected in June also affected Asian markets.

The only positive result in the AEX was by satellite navigator company TomTom. The Dutch Sat Nav firm gained 4 percent thanks to a recommendation by Bank of America-Merrill Lynch analysts.

Positive transport figures for June failed to helped Air France-KLM shares. The airline carried more passengers last month than in May. However in spite of a increase in both seat occupancy and freight, France-KLM shares fell 2 percent.

Wednesday’s biggest winner on the AEX, temping agency Randstad lost 3.3 percent.

In Londen, oil company BP headed the index having gained almost 4 percent following Arabic media reports that investors from Saudi Arabia are interested in a substantial share in the vexed company.

The exchange rate of the euro fell on Wednesday morning to 1.2560 dollars from 1.2645 dollars.

Talking about the situation on the US economy, investment strategist Wim van Assenbergh of Van Lanschot Bankiers told Dutch press agency ANP: "It is not a new recession, but there is fear in the markets. In Europe, the figures are still looking good, but you can see the cuts coming. That will affect economic growth, which had hardly begun."