European stocks headed for a hefty five-day decline after an active week in which commodity price moves and surprisingly strong bond sales continued to puzzle investors around the world.

The benchmark index for European share price performance, the FTSE Eurofirst 300, is on pace to fall around 2.2 percent this week. Britain's FTSE 100 will likely record a 1.3 percent decline while Germany's DAX performance index will post a 3.3 percent slip.