European stocks fall on US-China trade deal doubts

The major European stocks indices fell in morning sessions today, as the doubts over the US-China long-term trade deal spooked investors from risky assets and pushed most sectors related to global trade lower, in addition to a drop in the energy sector after a disappointing earnings report from Royal Dutch Shell.

Stoxx Europe 600 fell by 0.25% as of 11:05 GMT, while it closed higher by 0.1% yesterday, after it posted in the previous session its first daily loss in the last 7 days on profit-taking from 21-month peak.

The index opened today's session lower, to head for the second daily loss in the last 3 days, with most of the major European exchanges and sectors falling.

The automotive sector saw the largest losses in Europe, with a drop by 1.7% as the sector is the most sensitive to the global trade news.

Bloomberg reported on Saturday morning sources saying that the Chinese officials are skeptical about the possibility of reaching a long-term trade agreement with the US, albeit the two sides are getting closer to the first phase of the deal.

S&P 500 futures fell by 0.5%, after it closed higher by 0.3% yesterday at Wall Street, and posted its all-time record high of 3,050.10 points.

To the European stock markets, the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell by 0.3%, with France's CAC 40 falling by 0.4%, While in London, the FTSE 100 led the losses among the main European sectors as it fell 0.9%