European markets opened lower Monday morning as global stocks pause for breath following a bumper month on the back of positive vaccine news.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 slid 0.5% in early trade, oil and gas stocks shedding 2.3% to lead losses as all sectors except healthcare slid into negative territory.
European stocks are set for a mixed handover from Asia-Pacific, with mainland Chinese shares leading gains after China’s National Bureau of Statistics announced Monday that the official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for November was at 52.1, exceeding expectations.
Stateside, stock futures dipped in overnight trading with Wall Street still set to close out a record-breaking month of gains.
Back in Europe, talks between the U.K. and the European Union are heading into a “very significant” week, British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said Sunday, with time running out for the two sides to iron out lingering disagreements over their post-Brexit trading relationship.
Meanwhile, investors will have one eye on this week’s meeting of OPEC and allies, led by Russia, with the group of major oil-producing countries set to decide on whether to extend large production cuts into 2021.
In corporate news, the Financial Times reported on Saturday that HSBC is considering exiting its U.S. retail banking operations in a bid to improve performance in its North American business.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is due to speak at 11:30 a.m. CET and preliminary inflation data is due from Spain, Italy and Germany on Monday.
