Europe midday: Tech stocks trod underfoot as investors rush for the exit

Stocks are trading sharply lower ahead of the European Union's response to Italy's budget proposals later in the day and as investors try to front-run the risk of another leg lower in risk assets globally.

Summing up the mood on the Italian front, Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK said: "There were some soothing woods from Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte [on Monday] about wanting to work with the commission to work out a compromise and that for all the disagreements Italy was unquestionably committed to the euro and the EU.

"[...] Sadly, for the European Commission and all the warm words of the Italian Prime Minister and finance minister they aren't the ones calling the shots, rather it is deputy PM Matteo Salvini, and he has no incentive whatsoever to compromise, given the League’s polling numbers, which remain buoyant."

Investors were also treading cautiously ahead of a barrage of central bank policy meetings around the world, including the European Central Bank's on Thursday, and a spate of quarterly results from America's tech giants all at the end of the week.

Ratings agency Standard&Poor's was also due to release the results of its review of Italy's sovereign debt ratings on Friday.

Against that backdrop, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was down by 1.41% or 5.06 points to 354.68, alongside a 1.61% drop for the German Dax to 11,339.08, while the Cac-40 was off by 1.10% to 4,997.72.

To take note of, Paris's Cac-40 was in the process of setting fresh 52-week lows, joining the Dax who had done the same roughly one week earlier.

Commodities were also lower, dented by the souring sentiment, with front month Brent crude oil futures for prompt month delivery retreating by 1.93% to $78.32 per barrel on the ICE.

Tellingly perhaps, December gold futures on COMEX were adding 1.05% to $1,237.50/oz., even as the US dollar was turning around to edge higher.

Technology stocks were weakest, with the corresponding Stoxx 600 sector gauge down by 3.23% to 416.58, having earlier retreated by as much as 4%.

On that note, the euro had also reversed course to drift lower against the Greenback and was dipping 0.05% to change hands at 1.14589.

Tuesday's economic calendar was rather light, aside from the expected response from Brussels to Rome's budget proposals.

At 1500 BST, Eurostat was due to release its preliminary reading for euro area consumer confidence referencing the month of October.

On the corporate side of things, shares in Apple supplier AMS AG were collapsing, falling 24.52% after the 2017 stock market darling and manufacturer of optical sensors for cell phones said warned of weaker fourth quarter margins.

French IT giant Atos was another standout faller after investors recoiled in the wake of the company's latest guidance.

Renault shares were also trading on the back foot after the auto-maker posted weaker than expected revenues for the three months to September on the back of lower sales in multiple emerging markets, including Turkey, Argentina and India.