Shares on the French and German stock exchanges fell sharply in early trading Thursday, dipping below three percent, over oil price worries and after Federal Reserve boss Janet Yellen raised concerns about the global economy.

At 0830 GMT, France's main CAC 40 index was 2,57 percent lower, at 3,956.73 points, after falling briefly more than three percent. 

The Berlin-based vegan food retailer Veganz is looking to treble sales this year and is eying a possible stock market listing in 2018, its founder said in a magazine interview Wednesday.

"People can't get enough of our products," Veganz chief Jan Bredack told the weekly WirtschaftsWoche.

Russia may not have enough money to implement planned anti-crisis measures, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev warned Wednesday, asking ministers to make revisions.

Dubai's no-frills carrier flydubai said Wednesday its 2015 net profit stood at 100.7 million dirhams ($27.4 million), down 59.7 percent from the previous year, due to the strong dollar and route suspensions.

Total revenues increased 11 percent to 9.4 billion dirhams ($1.33 billion), with passenger numbers surging 25 percent to 9.04 million, it said in a statement.

An IMF program to prop up cash-strapped Ukraine's stricken economy cannot continue without reform by the authorities in Kiev, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde warned Wednesday.

"Without a substantial new effort to invigorate governance reforms and fight corruption, it is hard to see how the IMF-supported program can continue and be successful," Lagarde, the Washington-based lender's managing director, said in a strongly worded statement.

Deutsche Bank shares soared more than 11 percent on the Frankfurt stock exchange on Wednesday, driven by speculation it may be considering a bond buyback program to help ease concern about its funds. 

Shares in Germany's biggest lender -- which had shed around 13 percent over the previous two sessions on Monday and Tuesday  -- topped an intraday high of 14.75 euros in late morning trade on Wednesday, a jump of 11.5 percent on the day.

Tokyo stocks dropped again Wednesday to their lowest level since late 2014, as fears of a global recession hammered investor confidence ahead of testimony by the head of the U.S. central bank.

The plunge came the day after the benchmark Nikkei index posted a 5.4-percent drop, its steepest one-day decline in percentage terms since June 2013.

Coca-Cola announced a jump in fourth-quarter profits Tuesday on higher volumes and prices and said it would fully re-franchise bottling operations in North America and China in a cost-cutting move.

Net income for the 2015 fourth quarter was $1.2 billion, up 60.6 percent compared with the year-ago period.

Public debt of the oil-rich Gulf states is expected to double and assets decline by a third by 2020 as they seek to finance budget deficits due to sliding prices, a report said Tuesday.

After having posted massive deficits of $160 billion last year and faced with a $159 billion deficit in 2016, the six Arab states of the Gulf will have to borrow and tap into their huge fiscal reserves to finance the budget shortfall, said the report released by the head of research at Kuwait Financial Center (Markaz), M.R. Raghu.

An unexpected drop in German industrial production in December, as well as a decline in exports, cast a shadow over the outlook for Europe's biggest economy, analysts said on Tuesday.

According to regular data compiled by the economy ministry, industrial output fell by 1.2 percent in December, disappointing analysts' expectations for a modest increase.