European stocks slide down to a one-month low amid concern that the impasse over the U.S. budget and credit ceiling may lead to a default. Alcatel-Lucent SA relinquished 6.9 percent after French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the network-equipment maker’s restructuring plans won’t be approved without an agreement limiting job cuts. Cie. de Saint-Gobain SA downtrend 3.7 percent as Morgan Stanley cut its rating on Europe’s largest supplier of building materials. Taylor Wimpey Plc rallied 5.2 percent as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. added it to a conviction buy list. Tentative Steps Still, lawmakers began taking the first tentative steps toward a path to raising the limit even as the rhetoric grew more divisive. Senate Democrats plan a test vote before the end of this week on a measure that would grant Obama authority to raise the ceiling, probably for a year, unless two-thirds of both chambers of Congress oppose. Yellen Nominated Obama will nominate Janet Yellen as chairman of the Federal Reserve, which would put the world’s most powerful central bank in the hands of a key architect of its unprecedented stimulus program and the first female leader in its 100-year history. Alcatel-Lucent Cuts Alcatel-Lucent marched 6.9 percent lower to 2.58 euros, its biggest drop since Jan. 8. Ayrault said he wanted negotiations to limit job cuts. “If there is no accord, this restructuring won’t be approved,” he said on Europe 1 radio. Celesio Slumps Celesio AG relinquished 2.6 percent to 19.96 euros. Commerzbank AG downgraded the drug wholesaler to hold from buy, citing the risk that its majority shareholder, Franz Haniel & Cie GmbH, may not allow McKesson Corp. to gain control of the business. Celesio jumped 20 percent yesterday as Dow Jones reported that McKesson has started talks with Franz Haniel about acquiring the firm. EDP-Energias de Portugal SA, the nation’s biggest utility, backslide 2.1 percent to 2.47 euros after Goldman put the company on its conviction-sell list. Wimpey bolstered 5.2 percent to 103.8 pence. Goldman added the U.K.’s second-largest homebuilder by volume to its conviction buy list, citing its exposure to the domestic housing-market recovery. Telecom Italia SpA climbed 6.2 percent to 65.6 euro cents. The phone company that was stripped of its investment-grade rating is seeking at least 9 billion euros for its controlling stake in Brazilian wireless carrier Tim Participacoes SA, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
