European Markets Fall; Disappointing U.K. Economy News Clouds Tory Election Pitch

European stock markets fall, as Federal Reserve rate setters prepared to begin a meeting and preliminary figures showed UK economic growth slowed more than expected in the first quarter. The GDP figures could undermine an already faltering election campaign by the Conservatives, the senior partner in the ruling coalition and the party which investors and big business, on balance, appears to favor for the next government. Beleaguered emerging-markets focused lender Standard Chartered falls on worries about the outlook, while oil producers BP, of the U.K., and Total, of France, both rise on relief that first-quarter earnings declines weren’t even worse.