European stocks fall as US-China trade deal hopes ebb

European stocks fell in Monday's early trading, to deepen losses for the second straight session, on marked profit-taking activity from a 4-year high, in addition to renewed concerns about the trade talks between China and the US, especially after Trump's recent remarks.

Stoxx Europe 600 fell by 0.4% as of 11:25 GMT, as it closed lower by 0.3% on Friday, in its first daily loss in 6 sessions, on profit-taking from the highest level since July 2015 it hit in the previous session. 

During the last week, the index gained 1.1%, to post its fifth straight weekly gain, after US stocks posted record highs on Wall Street, due to positive earnings reports by major companies for Q3.

The index opened today's session lower, to extend losses for the second straight session, as the profit-taking activity continued, with most of the major European exchanges and sectors seeing red today.

The mining sector saw the largest losses in Europe today, with a drop by 1.9%, on the renewed concerns over the US-China trade war.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce stated on Thursday that the US and China agreed over the last two weeks to eliminate the tariffs, and a White House spokeswoman told Fox News that Washington and Beijing will reach a trade agreement very soon.

The US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the trade talks with China are going "very nicely", and the US won't make a trade deal with Beijing unless it's the right deal for America.

Trump also denied the reports about a complete rollback of the Chinese tariffs as part of the first phase of the trade deal.

S&P 500 futures fell by 0.4% today, after it closed higher by 0.3% on Friday at Wall Street, to mark the third straight daily gain.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell by 0.4%, the German DAX fell by 0.5%, and France's CAC 40 fell by 0.2%.

While in London, the FTSE 100 fell by 1.2%, to lead the losses among the major European markets, after Moody’s warned on Friday that it may cut its rating on Britain’s sovereign debt furthermore.