AP
Italy is down 0.9 percent, while the London FTSE and the French CAC 40 are both off 0.6 percent.
In Spain, the biggest losers are construction stocks: Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas is down 2.5 percent, Sacyr Vallehermoso is down 2.4 percent, and Obrascon Huarte Lain is down 2.2 percent.
However, the sell-off appears broad-based – no issues are currently trading higher on the Spanish IBEX 35.
The big economic news so far this morning is out of Germany: unemployment fell to 6.8 percent (economists expected it to be unchanged at 6.9 percent), but retail sales plunged 1.7 percent in December against expectations of a 0.1 percent decline.