European stocks head for seventh straight monthly gain

European stocks fell on Tuesday, and pulled back from 2-week highs, due to profit-taking, but remain on track for the seventh straight monthly gain thanks to upbeat Q2 earnings by major companies and banks.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell more than 0.3% as of 11:45 GMT, after hitting the highest since August 18 at 473.94 points, while it closed higher by 0.1% yesterday.

The automotive sector saw the largest loss in Europe today, with a drop of over 1%, due to the euro's rise against a basket of currencies.

The Stoxx Europe index has gained 2.1% so far this month, on track for the seventh straight monthly gain thanks to upbeat Q2 earnings by major companies and banks.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.1% today and hit its all-time record ahead of Wall Street's opening, after the index closed higher by 0.4% yesterday, and posted a new record at 4,537.36 points.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell stated that the Fed will start tapering its asset purchases before the end of 2021, but will not start to raise interest rates soon.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 0.3%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.35%, Germany's DAX index fell 0.4%, and the UK's FTSE 100 fell more than 0.6%.