European stocks fell, sending the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index to its fourth weekly decline, after Credit Suisse Group said the freeze in credit markets may force it to post the first loss in five years and declines in gold, copper and oil prices pushed commodity producers lower.

Credit Suisse, the second-biggest Swiss bank by assets, sank more than six percent. BHP Billiton Ltd and Total SA led a retreat by mining and energy companies. Nokia Oyj slipped to a 10-month low after Societe Generale SA advised selling the stock on the outlook for handset sales. Oil's drop below US$100 a barrel buoyed shares of airlines and carmakers.

The Stoxx 600 lost 0.2 percent to 296.79 in London, extending last week's decline to 2.4 percent as the collapse of Bear Stearns Cos weighed on financial shares.

"Bear Stearns and all the negative news flow and speculation surrounding other banks has convinced investors that economic growth will be relatively weak," said Tony Dolphin, director of strategy and economics at Henderson Global Investors in London, which oversees about US$125 billion. "That being the case, there is no justification for commodities to remain at recent highs."

Stocks pared declines after manufacturing in the Philadelphia region contracted less than forecast. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's general economic index rose to minus 17.4, less than the minus 19.0 in a Bloomberg News survey.

National stock indexes fell in all 15 markets in western Europe that were open except Ireland. The UK's FTSE 100 slid 0.9 percent, while Germany's DAX slipped 0.7 percent. France's CAC shed 0.5 percent. The Stoxx 50 retreated 0.3 percent, and the Euro Stoxx 50, a measure for the euro zone, lost 0.7 percent.

Most European markets will still be closed today for the Easter holiday.

Credit Suisse tumbled 6.4 percent to 48.5 Swiss francs. The Zurich-based bank said it will probably have a loss this quarter for the first time in almost five years as a result of "difficult" markets and writedowns on debt securities that were intentionally mispriced by traders.

Writedowns worth US$2.65 billion will be spread over the fourth quarter and first three months of 2008, the bank has said. That cut fourth-quarter net income by 789 million Swiss francs (US$788 million) to 540 million Swiss francs, and to 7.76 billion Swiss francs for the full year, the statement said.

UBS AG, Europe's biggest bank by assets, slid 1.1 percent to 27.92 Swiss francs.

BHP lost 5.6 percent to 1,361 pence. Rio Tinto Group, the world's third-biggest miner, dropped 5.3 percent to 4,800 pence.