European stocks were lower Wednesday morning, amid souring market sentiment over ongoing trade talks between the world's two biggest economies.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down around 0.8 percent during early morning deals, with all sectors and major bourses in negative territory.
Basic resource stocks led the losses shortly after the opening bell, down more than 2 percent amid elevated tensions in trade talks. The European Union's trade chief said Tuesday that the bloc's efforts to persuade Washington not to impose tariffs on imports of EU steel and aluminum appeared to have failed.
President Donald Trump has granted EU producers an exemption from import tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, depending on the outcome of talks. The exemption expires on June 1. Outokumpu, Tenaris and ArcelorMittal were the worst performers in the sector, all down over 2 percent during early morning deals.
Looking at individual stocks, engineering firm Weir Group slumped toward the bottom of the European benchmark after Exane BNP Paribas slashed its stock recommendation to a "neutral" from an "outperform" on Wednesday morning. Shares of the company were more than 3 percent lower.
Meanwhile, Britain's Marks & Spencer surged towards the top of the index after it reported its latest figures on Wednesday. The 134-year-old company posted a second straight decline in annual profit and said it urgently had to modernize in order to not to risk fading away. Nonetheless, its shares were over 5 percent higher on the news.
Trade talks
Trump said Tuesday he was not satisfied with recent negotiations between the U.S. and China. His comments followed remarks over the weekend from U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin who said Washington and Beijing's current trade dispute was "on hold."
The U.S. president also threatened to fine ZTE Corp and warned he might shake up its management, amid broader plans for the White House to roll back more severe penalties against the Chinese telecom company.
On the data front, Britain is set to publish inflation rate data for April at around 9:30 a.m. London time while the euro area is due to release flash consumer confidence data for May later in the trading day.
