Europe midday: Stocks slip as US President issues warning ahead of trade talks
Stocks on the Continent are drifting lower after the US President said he expected a previously announced increase in tariffs on Chinese goods to go ahead at the turn of the year, as planned.
In an interview with the Journal, Donald Trump, reportedly also repeated a threat to place tariffs on all imports from the Asian giant.
With just four days to go until he met his oppossite number in China, Trump said it was "highly unlikely" that he would acquiesce to China's request that Washington postpone that increase, adding that if talks were unsuccessful then he would place tariffs on all Chinese exports.
Earlier on Tuesday, the spokesman for China's foreign ministry had said he was hopeful both sides could work towards a "positive outcome", later clarifying that the two leaders had reached such a "consensus" during a telephone call on 1 November.
As of 1130 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was dipping by 0.26% or 0.91 points to 357.42, alongside a fall of 0.11% or 12.31 points to 11,342.41 for the German Dax while Spain's Ibex 35 was ahead by 0.22% or 19.90 points at 9,110.90.
Commenting on the session thus far, IG's Chris Beauchamp told clients: "The market, it seems, is still very much hopeful that a deal can be done between the two powers, but the sad reality is that any such agreement still looks a long way off.
"However, as the session has gone on equities have managed to hold their ground, with hopes still high that yesterday’s surge marked the beginning of something more substantial. The broad-based gains of yesterday’s US session might suggest that there is more to this rally than the rebound back in October, even if Trump’s comments about fresh tariffs on China have dulled the mood slightly."
Still ahead for later in the day was what was expected to be a key speech from US central bank chairman, Richard Clarida, at 1330 GMT.
Back in the euro area, data released on Tuesday was rather downbeat.
In Italy, ISTAT reported a decline in its consumer confidence index from a reading of 116.5 for October to 114.8 in November.
Similarly, INSEE's conumser confidence gauge for France retreated from October's reading of 95 to a print of 92 in November.