Source : Reuters lire le PDF

European stocks tumbled on Thursday, with a key index of blue chip companies from the euro zone dropping to a twoyear low, as investors dumped equities across the board in response to sluggish global growth and Italy's debt troubles.

Banking stocks were hammered, with Barclays losing 7.8 percent, UBS down 6.4 percent and UniCredit down 9.33 percent.

Mining and industrials stocks, which had shown resilience over the past few months while the broad market drifted lower, took a serious beating, with global miner Xstrata dropping 8.5 percent and Airbus maker EADS sinking 6.1 percent. Carmaker Fiat ended down 10 percent.