European stocks fell early on Thursday ahead of interest rate decisions by the Bank of England and the European Central Bank.

By 09:15 the FTSEurofirst 300 index had fallen 1.1 per cent down to 1,294.36 points. The DJ Stoxx index of European banks also fell by 1.8 per cent.

European banks Commerzbnk, Credit Suisse and Societe Generale all saw their shares drop in value by over 2.5 per cent.

There was also a drop of 0.2-0.4 per cent in futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq SPc1 DJc1 NDc1.

Credit Suisse Ftse