European stocks fell on yesterday, with a series of weak company earnings reports reversing a rally seen earlier in the week and halting the positive momentum overnight that lifted some of Asia's biggest markets to multi-year highs. Greece's debt crisis remained at the forefront of investors' minds. But a gathering of European finance ministers this week won't be the crunch meeting it had been billed as, giving Greek markets, euro zone bonds and the euro some breathing space. Europe's FTSE EuroFirst 300 index of leading shares was down 0.3 percent, Germany's DAX was down 0.8 percent and Britain's FTSE 100 down a half of one percent. U.S. futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street of about a third of one percent. Richemont warned its net profit for the year would drop by 36 percent and Kering's Gucci posted a bigger-than-expected drop in sales, and both luxury groups were among the worst performers. Shares in Britain's largest retailer Tesco initially rose more than 2 percent but were last down 2 percent, a roller coaster ride after the company announced a record 6.4 billion pound loss. Despite this, Germany's DAX remains near record highs and the FTSEurofirst 300 is near its highest level in more than 14 years. "Flows are starting to wobble a bit but this is more of a pause for breath in the middle of earnings season," said Francois Chaulet, fund manager at Montsegur Finance in Paris.