* STOXX 600 down 0.9 pct
* Carrefour, WPP drop after results
* Though
By Kit Rees
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.9percent at a two-week low by 1005 GMT, while
Results were squarely in focus, with shares in Frenchsupermarket Carrefour dropping 7.2 percent after thegroup cut its dividend and gave a cautious 2018 profit outlook.
Many retailers have struggled in the face of Amazon's riseand the need to adapt to a tech-led world.
"If you're looking at companies like Amazon which arehoovering up market share ... you have seen some weakerperformers," Jasper Reimers, senior analyst at Vertex CapitalGroup, said.
"On the whole, I would say it certainly hasn't been a bad(European) earnings season at all."
Plans by fast-fashion company Zalando to expandinto two new markets were not met well by the market, with itsshares also falling around 4.8 percent as investors assessed theimpact of such heavy investment.
Elsewhere, the
Advertiser WPP's shares dropped more than 12 percentafter it said that it would simplify its structure after postingits worst performance since the financial crisis as consumergoods firms cut their spending on advertising.
On the positive side, shares in beer giant Anheuser-BuschInBev jumped 5.3 percent after its fourth quarterprofit beat expectations thanks to a rebound in
More broadly, equity markets continue to be dogged byconcerns over higher bond yields, rising inflation and thepotential for higher interest rates in
These worries were reignited on Tuesday when new FederalReserve chief Jerome Powell struck a bullish tone on thestrength of the economy.
Powell was due to speak again later on Thursday.
“Any further hawkish rhetoric could dull risk appetitefurther," Miles Eakers, chief market analyst at Centtrip, saidin a note.
(Reporting by Kit ReesEditing by Keith Weir)