European shares fell on Tuesday, ahead of key U.S. earnings news, with banking stocks under pressure and commodities lower as crude and gold prices slipped.
Luxury good retailers, however, gained.
By 0822 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was down 0.2 percent at 1,099.69 points. The index is up around 70 percent since reaching a lifetime low in early March 2009.
The banking sector featured among the worst performers, retreating from gains in the previous session. Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Societe Generale and Lloyds Banking Group lost 0.4 to 0.7 percent.
Investors kept a close eye on Greece, which will sell 1.2 billion euros ($1.63 billion) of bills, testing market appetite two days after euro zone members agreed to provide a 30 billion euro standby aid package for the debt-ridden country. Results are expected after 0900 GMT.
The market was cautious ahead of U.S. earnings news.
"Asian markets were lower and we are waiting for more earnings releases," said Giuseppe-Guido Amato, strategist at Lang & Schwarz in Frankfurt.
"I think we have run too far too fast. We have been at high levels so we have to be careful and wait and see."
After the U.S. market close on Monday, Alcoa kicked off the earnings reporting period, posting its fifth net loss in the past six quarters, but when charges were excluded its earnings matched Wall Street estimates, although revenue was below forecasts.
MINERS SLIP
Miners fell for the second consecutive session as goldedged lower, retreating from a four-month high on Monday. Antofagasta , BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata slipped 0.8 to 1.6 percent.
Energy stocks also retreated for the second day as oil fell for a fifth-straight session to under $84 a barrel, as a forecast increase in U.S. crude inventories fanned concern about excess supplies and sluggish demand growth.
BG Group, Royal Dutch Shell and Total were down 0.2 to 0.7 percent.
Looking at individual stocks, Dutch brewer Heineken fell 2.5 percent after JPMorgan Cazenove cut its rating on the stock to "underperform" from "neutral" and its price target to 37.50 euros from 40 euros.
On the upside, the world's largest luxury good maker LVMH rose 3.2 percent, hitting its highest level since Sept 2000, after it reported forecast-beating comparable sales growth for the first-quarter.
Telecom Italia gained 3.2 percent. The company cut its medium-term revenue growth target and said it planned to make greater savings to reduce its 34 billion euro ($46 billion) debt pile, which has held back investments. Investors will watch a slew of earnings news this week. Tech bellwether Intel Corp is due to report earnings on Tuesday, with other companies scheduled to report this week including Google, General Electric, and JPMorgan Chase.
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index was down 0.1 percent, Germany's DAX fell 0.2 percent and France's CAC 40 was 0.1 percent lower.
