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At 13:34 BST, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 had slipped to 1,012.99 points - a fall of 0.1 per cent.
Earlier in the day, the market had been boosted by gains in the banking sector, with BNP Paribas, Barclays and Banco Santander among those gaining.
BP also increased as its share price began to recover from the sharp falls earlier in the week.
However, the figures from the US Commerce Department caused these gains to be reversed.
In a statement, the body said transactions were down 1.2 per cent during May following an upwardly-revised increase of 0.6 per cent the previous month.
The dip was the biggest seen in the country since September 2009.
In London, the FTSE 100 was 10.76 points lower at 14:20 BST, putting it on 5,121.74 points.
Posted by Greg Secker
