European stocks slip ahead of US-China trade deal signing

European stocks fell on Wednesday, to resume losses after taking a pause yesterday, but these losses are ebbed amid anticipation for the signing of the phase-one trade deal between the US and China.

Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.1% as of 11:43 GMT, after it closed higher by 0.3% yesterday, to post its first daily gain on 3 days.

The index opened today's session lower, heading to the third daily loss in 4 days, as most of the major European exchanges and sectors fell today.

The Chinese Vice Premier, Liu He, headed a delegation that arrived in Washington on Monday, to sign the phase-one trade deal on Wednesday at the White House with President Donald Trump's administration.

The deal will mark the end the more than 18 months old trade war between the world's two largest economies, but the contents of that deal have not been revealed yet, amid anticipation in the global markets for the details of this agreement.

The US Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said on Tuesday that the tariffs on Chinese goods will stay until concluding the phase-two deal.

Mnuchin stated that documents about the deal would be released on Wednesday, and would show that the phase-one deal is fully enforceable, including a pledge by the Chinese government to stop manipulating the exchange rate of the Chinese yuan.

S&P 500 futures lost 0.2% today, after closing lower by 0.15% yesterday at Wall Street, on profit taking from its all-time record of 3,294.25 points.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index lost 0.1%, France's CAC 40 fell by 0.1%, Germany's DAX shed 0.4%, while In London, the FTSE 100 index rose by 0.1%.