European stocks open lower as trade fears mount

European stocks opened lower Thursday morning as trade tensions between the U.S. and China ratchet up.

The Pan-European STOXX 600 abruptly fell 0.7% after the opening bell while the CAC 40 dropped more than 1%. All major sectors opened morning trading in decline, with autos leading the losses on a 1.6% drop.

European markets closed slightly higher Wednesday after the White House said China wanted to make a trade deal, but Asian stocks then slipped during Thursday trade after President Trump claimed China “broke the deal” in negotiations.

Indexes in China, Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea all fell by more than 1%.

Stateside, Wall Street closed Wednesday’s session largely unchanged as investors monitored trade developments, while President Trump imposed new sanctions on Iran, targeting revenue from its exports of industrial metals in the latest economic squeeze on Tehran..

Back in Europe, a deal for British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to buy Pfizer’s consumer healthcare business received approval from the Australian anti-trust regulator, while Standard Chartered became the latest British firm to face shareholder criticism of executive pension provisions.

A survey Thursday revealed demand for staff within businesses in the U.K. rose at its slowest rate since 2012 in April. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Theresa May offered to meet leaders of an influential group of pro-Brexit Conservative Party lawmakers next week to address growing calls for her resignation.

In corporate news, British telecommunications giant BT Group is set to report first-quarter earnings Thursday morning.

Source: CNBC