By Investors Hub
European stocks have moved to the downside on Tuesday, with rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China as well as a fresh sell-off in U.S. tech stocks weighing on the markets.
While the U.K.?s FTSE 100 Index is just below the unchanged line, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.5 percent.
The day’s economic reports have also disappointed investors. German retail fell unexpectedly sales by 0.7 percent in February, bigger than the 0.3 percent decrease seen in January, Destatis reported. This was the third consecutive decline in sales.
Final data from IHS Markit showed euro area manufacturing activity grew at the slowest pace in eight months in March. The final manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ index fell to 56.6 in March from 58.6 in February.
U.K. manufacturing output growth picked up in March, but this was offset by slower increases in both new orders and employment, according to survey results from IHS Markit.
Swiss bank UBS Group has fallen after proposing new members to its board. Eurofins Scientific has also moved to the downside after acquiring Lab Frontier in South Korea.
Air France has plunged as its workers have gone on strike over a pay dispute. French food services group Sodexo has also come under pressure after Goldman Sachs lowered its rating on the stock.
Meanwhile, Petrofac has rallied after winning an engineering, procurement, and construction contract from Vedanta worth about $233 million.
