Wall Street falls on weak US sales

Stocks on Wall Street slipped as US retail sales in January were weaker than expected.

The Commerce Department reported sales rose 0.4% compared with 0.9% expected by economists.

In Europe, sharemarkets fell after Moody's Investors Service downgraded a number of European sovereign-debt ratings and cut its outlook on triple-A-rated France, the UK and Austria,

Just before the close (10am NZ time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 74 points, or 0.6%, to 12,799. The S&P 500 index was down 0.7% to 1342 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.6% to 2913.

Nine of the S&P's 10 sectors were in the red, led lower by financials and materials. Bank of America led blue chips lower, down 2.8%, followed by Alcoa, down 1.9%.

In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 lost 0.2% to finish at 262.56, after trading as high as 264.08 earlier in the session after the down grades.

The German DAX 30 index rose after the news, but ended the day down 0.2% at 6728.19. The CAC 40 index fell 0.3% to 3375.64.

The UK’s FTSE 100 index lost 0.1% to 5899.87, pulled down by heavyweight mining stocks as base and precious metals lost territory.

Asian bourses were mixed. China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.3% to 2344.77, weighed down by the Moody's downgrades. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.6% to 9052.07 after the Bank of Japan eased monetary policy by expanding its asset purchase programme.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index lost 1% to 4242.80, and Korea's Kospi fell 0.2% to 2002.64. But a rally in property shares helped Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index shake off losses for a 0.1% gain to 20,917.83.

In commodities, crude-oil futures settled weaker amid conflicting economic signals from Europe.

Light, sweet crude oil for March delivery on the New York was 17USc lower at $US100.74 a barrel. The drop followed a $2.24 rise on Monday that put crude at a six-week high.

On the ICE, expiring March Brent crude oil was up 15USc at $118.08 a barrel. Gold futures settled lower to log their third losing session in a row.

Gold for April delivery fell $US7.20, or 0.4%, to settle at $US1717.70 an ounce in New York.

The US dollar rose sharply against the yen in currency trading after the Bank of Japan's move, but fell slightly against the euro.

The dollar rose as high as ¥78.48, more than 1% higher from late Monday's trading at ¥77.57 and the highest since December 2..

The euro was at $US1.3103 compared with $US1.3187 late on Monday. The UK pound was at $US1.5673 from $US1.5766, while the dollar bought 0.9213 Swiss franc from 0.9164 franc.