European shares drop back as Marine Harvest and Pearson fall

LONDON, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 17 (Reuters) - European shares fell on Monday as weak-looking business updates from companies such as media group Pearson (Xetra: 858266 - news) and Norwegian seafood company Marine Harvest (LSE: 0OAW.L - news) weighed on the market.

Equity markets were further dented by comments late on Friday from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, whose remarks on the need for aggressive steps to rebuild the U.S. economy boosted long-dated U.S bond yields.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down by 0.4 percent, with the index down by around 7 percent so far in 2016.

Pearson fell 4.1 percent, among the worst-performers on Britain's FTSE 100 and on the STOXX 600, after the company warned of tough trading conditions.

Marine Harvest shares also fell 3.7 percent after the company cut its 2016 output guidance.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Atul Prakash)