Europe open: Airbus clinches historic order, pushing euro higher

European stocks have started the morning lower with some London-based traders referencing "diminished expectations" for US tax reforms and commodity price weakness as the catalysts for selling.

As of 0916 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was losing 0.53% or 2.03 points to 381.33, alongside a 0.66% or 85.89 point fall on the German Dax to 12,961.05 and a retreat of 0.63% or 141.24 points in the FTSE Mibtel to 22,160.96.

In parallel, front month Brent crude oil futures were 0.89% lower to $61.66 a barrel on the ICE.

Euro-dollar was trading 0.43% higher at 1.1847 - possibly boosted a by a multi-billion dollar order for Airbus - even as the yield on the benchmark 10-year German government note was off by three basis points to 0.37%.

"US markets also struggled to make gains closing lower, as investors took their cues from disappointing Chinese data which raised concerns of a disappointing end to the year for the world’s second biggest economy, as well as diminishing expectations of progress on US tax reform.

"Markets in Asia have picked up on yesterday’s weaker finish, tracking lower as weaker commodity prices weighed on risk appetite. Crude oil prices have also started to show signs of peaking over concerns about the demand outlook after the IEA cut its demand outlook for 2018 by 100k barrels per day over the next 12 months. With Russia starting to express doubts about extending OPEC cuts beyond March 2018 this could be a catalyst for further losses in crude prices ahead of this month’s OPEC meeting in Vienna," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

On the economic data front, according to revised data from INSEE, French consumer prices advanced by 0.2% month-on-month and 1.2% on the year, confirming an earlier estimate.

Still on the economic calendar for later in the session, Eurostat was scheduled to release its trade balance figures for the month of September at 1000 GMT.

For later in the day, investors were awaiting the release of US CPI and retail sales data for the month of October.

Meanwhile, in the corporate space, Airbus said it had clinched a 450 plane order with Indigo Partners valued at $49.5bn - the largest in the manufacturer's history - for 273 A320 neo jets and 157 of the bigger A321neo model.

Elsewhere, German speciality chemicals-maker Lanxess posted adjusted net profits of €106m for the three months to September up from €77m a year earlier on 25% higher sales to €2.4bn.