European stocks retreated Wednesday after a slide in metals sent mining shares lower and concerns grew about technology profits.

BHP Billiton dropped 31 pence to £11.47 as copper prices fell.

Nokia and Atos Origin led a drop by technology shares, following disappointing earnings by the U.S. heavyweights Yahoo and International Business Machines.

But Société Générale touched a record €147.29 before closing €4.23 higher at €143.50 on speculation that it was a takeover target.

“Société Générale is rising on a rumor that UniCredit would bid for the company,” said Frederic Boissel, a trader at Fimat in Paris.

The shares started gaining Tuesday after the newspaper Finanza & Mercati reported that the Italian banking giant was considering a bid for the French rival. Stephanie Carson-Parker, a spokeswoman for Société Générale in Paris, declined to comment. UniCredit fell 7 cents to €7.34.

The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index fell 1.98 points to 385.88. The Stoxx 50 dropped 16.02 points to 3,852.47, and the Euro Stoxx 50, a measure for the 13 countries sharing the euro, fell 25.43 points to 4,358.95.

“Company outlooks haven’t been that good and that’s weighing on stocks,” said Guillaume Chaloin of Meeschaert Asset Management in Paris. “After the sessions we’ve had recently, it’s logical to lock in profits.”

National benchmarks declined in 14 of the 18 leading West European markets. The FTSE 100 fell 48.40 points to 6,449.40, the CAC 40 eased 22.19 points to 5,835.95 and the DAX dropped 66.49 points to 7,282.34.

Luster dims for miners

Besides the 2.6 percent drop for BHP Billiton, the biggest mining company, a leading rival, Rio Tinto, retreated 64 pence, or 2 percent, to £31.19. Kazakhmys, the biggest copper producer in Kazakhstan, slid 17 pence. or 1.4 percent, to £11.68. Vedanta Resources, the largest Indian producer of copper and zinc, fell 37 pence, or 2.6 percent, to £14.

The outlook for earnings globally deteriorated this month, according to a Merrill Lynch survey of investors issued Wednesday. Thirty-eight percent of fund managers, the most so far this year, said they expected profits to weaken over the next 12 months.

“There comes a time when the market has to take into account profits and reality,” said Jean Borjeix of the investment company Oddo.

Roche Holding, the biggest maker of cancer medicines, led health care stocks higher. Its shares rose 6.10 Swiss francs, or 2.7 percent, to 229.10 francs after it reported a 16 percent gain in sales to 11.4 billion Swiss francs on increased prescriptions of its tumor-fighting treatments.

Stada Arzneimittel jumped €1.87, or 3.9 percent, to €48.80 after Merrill Lynch cited an increased chance the German drug maker might become a takeover target at up to €78 a share.

In contrast, Atos lost 21 cents to €53.75 after Citigroup lowered its recommendation on the French company to “sell” from “hold,” saying that it deemed a takeover unlikely. “While bid speculation may hold up the share price temporarily, we feel the risks in the future are firmly on the downside,” Citigroup analysts wrote in a note.

Nokia, which announced a partnership with Yahoo in January, dropped 15 cents to €17.55.

Big setbacks in London

ChoicesUK, a DVD and computer game rental chain in Britain, dropped 22.5 pence, or by half, to a record low of 22.5 pence after it said earnings for the 24 weeks through July 28 would be “substantially” below analysts’ average estimate.

National Express Group fell 26 pence, or 2 percent, to £12.63. Goldman Sachs cut its recommendation on shares of the British bus and rail operator to “sell” from “neutral,” noting that the stock had performed strongly this year “despite uncertainty over rail income with two franchises due to expire within the current year.”

L’Oréal said first-quarter revenue rose 8.4 percent to €4.27 billion, well above most analysts’ estimates, led by rising consumption of cosmetics in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. The stock gained €1.22 to €87.52.

Zodiac advanced €1.12, or 2 percent, to €56.10. The French supplier of escape chutes and seats for airliners said it was in talks to sell a 73-year-old division that makes rubber dinghies to a joint venture with the private-equity firm Carlyle Group.