Europe close: Shares end at end session lows amid trade jitters
Stocks on the Continent saw the day out from their session lows, amid renewed concerns around global trade, especially between the US and China and after the European Commission slashed its short-term growth forecasts.
Failing to offset the hit to investor sentiment, earlier, China's Ministry of Commerce confirmed that the country's vice premier, Liu He, would travel to Washington on Thursday despite the US administration's decision to go ahead and raise tariffs on $200bn-worth of Chinese goods from 10% to 25%.
Nevertheless, some analysts, such as Mislav Matejka at JP Morgan, did not believe that any weakness in share prices would be "material or prolonged", telling clients to use the Trump and seasonals inspired weakness as an opportunity to add further to their positions.
"The latest spike in trade uncertainty might end up being no more than a short-lived negotiating tactic," Matejka added.
By the end of trading, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was down by 1.37% to 381.64, alongside a drop of 1.58% to 12,092.74 for the German Dax, while the FTSE Mibtel was down by 0.89% to 21,219.14.
In parallel, the French Cac-40 retreated 1.60% to 5,395.75 while the Ibex 35 had reversed earlier gains to trade down by 1.03% to 9,235.10, dspite sharp gains in shares of Cellnex.
Lenders' shares paced losses at the pan-European level, with the Stoxx 600 sector gauge down by 2.43% to 143.59.
Yet despite US officials' allegations that Beijing had attempted to walk back on some of its already agreed commitments on trade at the weekend, speaking in Paris, IMF managing director, Christine Lagarde, said: "We thought this threat was waning and relations were improving and we were moving toward an agreement.
"We hope that is still the case but today rumors, tweets and comments are not very favorable."
The yield on the benchmark 10-year German bund meanwhile was down by four basis points to -0.04%.
Stock in Cellnex was holding sharply higher and was trading just below its 52-week high after announcing its intention to buy approximately 10,700 telecommunications masts in France, Italy and Switzerland from Iliad SA and Salt Mobile SA.
Shares of Iliad also advanced on the back of the same news, climbing 5%.
BMW on the other hand dipped after posting a 72% drop in first quarter net profits to €588m, as the carmaker booked a €1.4bn provision against an ongoing antitrust investigation by the European Commission and on the back of increased investment in property and plants as well as increased outlays on R&D.
Essilor Luxottica dipped even after the company kept its full-year outlook unchanged.
On the economic side of things, factory orders in Germany bounced in March by 0.6% month-on-month, underwhelming the consensus forecast for an increase of 1.4% and leaving them 6.0% lower versus a year ago.
In February they had fallen by 8.1%, amid weak demand from outside the single currency bloc.
"Looking ahead, the survey data have offered tentative signs of stabilisation, but they continue to paint a picture of recessionary conditions in German manufacturing," said Claus Vistesen at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
Echoing that sentiment and pointing to the multiple risks to the outlook, including but not limited to an escalation in trade conflicts, a 'no deal' Brexit or a sharper than expected slowdown in China, on Tuesday the Commission cut its growth forecasts for the euro area in 2019 and 2020.
The EU's executive arm lowered its GDP growth forecasts to 1.2% and 1.5%, which was down from its previous projections for a rate of expansion of 2.0% and 2.3%, respectively.
CAC 40 - Risers
Carrefour (CA) 17.58 +2.72%
Veolia Environnement (VIE) 21.60 +1.84%
Publicis Groupe Sa (PUB) 52.76 +0.42%
Orange. (ORA) 13.91 +0.22%
Sodexo (SW) 102.00 +0.20%
Legrand SA (LR) 61.40 +0.07%
CAC 40 - Fallers
Societe Generale S.A. (GLE) 27.08 -3.89%
Atos (ATO) 66.30 -3.75%
Danone (BN) 69.86 -3.56%
ArcelorMittal SA (MT) 17.81 -3.06%
TECHNIPFMC (FTI) 20.26 -2.74%
LVMH (MC) 335.05 -2.71%
Total (FP) 46.71 -2.68%
Valeo (FR) 30.17 -2.58%
Saint Gobain (SGO) 34.70 -2.21%
BNP Paribas (BNP) 46.88 -2.11%