Europe close: Stocks reel amid global trade worries and Brexit concerns
Stocks across the Continent finished the session mired in deep losses, weighed down by concerns around the strength of the euro area's economy, particularly in the face of risks around a no-deal Brexit, and after the US President reiterated his complaint that China had not bought more US agricultural goods as promised.
Commenting on the factors driving the price action in Tuesday's session, IG's Chris Beauchamp said: "The ECB failed to provide much lasting excitement last week, particularly for eurozone equities, and these are under fresh pressure this morning following more tough earnings reports and a sour reading on French GDP.
"Each passing day brings more bad news for the eurozone (no-deal shock, anyone?), which will raise the pressure on the ECB to do something dramatic, even as the ECB itself tries to persuade Germany and others to ramp up spending."
By session close, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was down by 1.47% at 385.11, alongside a 2.18% drop for Germany's Dax to 12,147.24 while Milan's FTSE Mibtel had retreated 1.99% to 21,278.24.
In parallel, sterling shed 0.51% to trade at 1.0907 versus the single currency following reports that the new Prime Minister will dedicate the next few days to putting pressure on Brussels to negotiate a better deal for Britain, even as preparations were made for a no-deal outcome.
Meanwhile, in messages posted to his personal account on Twitter, Trump warned Beijing that waiting to see the result of the next US presidential elections could result in his pushing for harder terms or even no deal ever being reached.
Nevertheless, expectations for a resolution of the trade spat were already quite low going into Tuesday's session.
Contributing to those concerns around the European economy, earlier Sweden's statistics office had reported that the country's gross domestic product in fact shrank at a 0.1% quarter-on-quarter pace over the three months ending in June, missing forecasts for an expansion of 0.1%.
And in France, INSEE said GDP grew at a 0.2% clip over the same time frame, which was shy of the consensus projection for growth of 0.3%.
Similarly, household spending was flat in June, INSEE said, which was shy of anticipated by markets.
And early in the afternoon, Germany's Ministry of Finance reported a slowdown in the year-on-year rate of harmonised consumer price gains from 1.5% for June to 1.1% in July, missing economists' forecasts for an increase of 1.1% by a wide margin.
On the corporate front, stock in German online food delivery outfit Delivery Hero surrendered early gains even after its boss, Niklas Oestberg, doused speculation that it might launch a counter-offer for UK rival Just Eat.