European stocks

European stocks swung lower Monday, with mining shares pulling back as Chinese economic data highlighted concern surrounding a global trade war, but bank stocks advanced as Deutsche Bank AG offered a brighter outlook for its upcoming earnings report.

How markets are performing

The Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, -0.08%  fell 0.1% to 385.75, as only the industrial and financial sectors rose modestly. On Friday, the pan-European index rose 0.2% and ended last week higher by 0.7%.

Germany’s DAX 30 index DAX, +0.12% tacked on 0.2% to 12,564.03, but the U.K.’s FTSE 100 index UKX, -0.52% fell 0.6% to 7,613.43, weighed in part by mining stocks.

France’s CAC 40 index PX1, -0.16% fell 0.2% to 5,420.12, and Spain’s IBEX 35IBEX, -0.10%  turned down, losing 0.1% at 9,723.90.

The euro EURUSD, +0.1968% rose to $1.1703 from $1.1685 late Friday in New York. The pound GBPUSD, +0.2040% rose to $1.3264, up from $1.3234.

What’s driving the market

European stocks had a sluggish start as trading got underway, as mining stocks were dragged down after data showed China’s gross domestic product slowed slightly in the second quarter. The Stoxx Europe 600 Basic Resources IndexSXPP, -0.58%  fell 0.5%.

Quarterly growth in China — the largest consumer of industrial metal copper — came in at 6.7%, the slowest rate since the third quarter of 2016, as Beijing continued efforts to stoke deleveraging at financial institutions.

The growth, while in line with expectations, raised questions about the health of the Chinese economy, the world’s second largest, as it enacts retaliatory trade tariffs against the U.S. The U.S. government last week said it’s looking to expand its import tariffs against Chinese goods to $200 billion in products.

Europe, China and the U.S. have a duty “not to start trade wars,” said European Council President Donald Tusk on Monday at a summit between European Union and Chinese officials in Beijing. President Donald Trump called the EU “a foe” of the U.S. in an interview with CBS Evening News that aired Sunday.

Stock movers

In the mining group, Glencore PLC  GLEN, -1.36%  fell 1.4%, Boliden BOL, -1.50% gave up 1.4%, BHP Billiton PLC BLT, -1.22% BHP, -1.07% BHP, -0.78%  fell 1% and steel maker ArcelorMittal SA MT, -0.79%  shed 0.9%.

Indivior PLC INDV, +24.86%  rocketed higher by 30% after the drug maker late Friday said it won a preliminary injunction against Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd.500124, -1.53% RDY, -1.20%  over a product that treats opioid dependence.

Hargreaves Lansdown HL., -4.18%  fell 4% after the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority said it’s considering banning exit fees from online investment platforms.

Micro Focus International PLC MCRO, -3.56%  lost 4% after Credit Suisse reportedly cut its rating on the software maker.

A new round of voting is expected to start Monday in the U.K. House of Commons on amendments to the bill that will take the U.K. out of the European Union. They will be the first votes on amendments related to trade after U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May won support for a soft-Brexit strategy from her cabinet when they met at Chequers earlier this month. That approach includes negotiating for frictionless trade in goods between the U.K. and the EU.

But May’s vision moving forward prompted cabinet resignations by cabinet members David Davis and Boris Johnson, among others, and Monday’s votes face the prospect of rebellion by members of May’s Conservative Party.

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Source: marketwatch.com