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U.S. President Donald Trump's bid to blacklist Huawei has further intensified trade tensions, while the Chinese ruling Communist Party's newspaper has insisted the trade war will only make China stronger.
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The morning's biggest loser was British tour operator Thomas Cook, which saw its shares plummet 30% by mid-morning, hitting their lowest since July 2012 and on track for the biggest one-day drop since November 2011.
European stocks traded lower Friday as trade fears ratcheted up, amid the U.S. administration's bid to blacklist Chinese telecoms giant Huawei and the ruling Chinese Communist Party's newspaper striking a defiant tone.
The pan-European STOXX 600 dropped 0.6% after the opening bell, autos leading the losses with a fall of 1.6% in the early minutes of trading, while only travel and leisure and utilities stocks traded in the black mid-morning.
The notable contributor to auto losses was BMW BMW-DE , which saw its shares slip 5.7%.
The morning's biggest loser was British tour operator Thomas Cook, which saw its shares plummet 30% by mid-morning, hitting their lowest since July 2012 and on track for the biggest one-day drop since November 2011. Citi analysts downgraded the company's stock to "sell" after its latest profit warning Thursday.
In Asia, most major indexes gained in Friday trade following overnight gains on Wall Street, but mainland Chinese shares tumbled amid ongoing tensions between Beijing and Washington. The Shenzhen component led the losses, dropping 1.77% in the morning session.
Stateside, investors will be monitoring the trade war between the world's largest economies, as President Donald Trump's bid to block Huawei from buying American technology ratcheted up tensions. Meanwhile, China's ruling Communist Party's newspaper struck a defiant tone Friday, insisting the trade war will only make China stronger.
While major U.S. indexes gained Thursday, shares in American chipmakers fell upon the news.
Trump also ended a preferential trade agreement with Turkey Thursday, but is keen to advance talks with Switzerland on a new free trade deal, Swiss President Ueli Maurer told reporters in Washington.
Back in Europe, hopes that the U.K.'s two largest political parties can hash out a Brexit agreement have ended . Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told reporters Friday morning that talks had gone as far as they can go and his party will oppose Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit proposal.
Italian antitrust regulators launched an investigation into Google GOOGL over alleged abuse of market dominance, relating to its refusal to integrate the "Enel X Recharge" app, developed by Enel, in its Android Auto app. Google stock was down 0.5% pre-market in the U.S. Friday.