Investing.com - European stocks dropped on Wednesday, as mounting concerns over fresh U.S. political events continued to wegh heavily on market sentiment.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 dropped 0.45%, France’s CAC 40 declined 0.56%, while Germany’s DAX 30 slid 0.32%.
Market sentiment weakened following reports U.S. President Donald Trump shared sensitive intelligence with Russia's foreign minister in a meeting last week.
Investor confidence was also hit after news Trump asked former FBI Director James Comey to end the agency's investigation into ties between former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn and Russia.
Markets were still recovering from Trump’s decision last week to fire James Comey and amid congressional calls for an independent investigation of possible Russian interference with the U.S. election.
Financial stocks were broadly lower, as French lenders BNP Paribas (PA:BNPP) and Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) tumbled 1.03% and 1.09%, while Germany’s Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) and Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) lost 0.33% and 1.59%.
Among peripheral lenders, Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo (MI:ISP) and Unicredit (MI:CRDI) dropped 0.52% and 0.83% respectively, while Spanish banks BBVA (MC:BBVA) and Banco Santander (MC:SAN) declined 0.69% and 0.73%.
Elsewhere, Bouygues (PA:BOUY) SA slipped 0.25% after the French conglomerate said a stronger performance in telecoms enabled it to post a smaller-than-expected first quarter operating loss.
The company also vowed to further increase earnings over the full year.
In London, FTSE 100 edged down 0.15%, weighed by British Land Company PLC (LON:BLND), whose shares tumbled 1.19% even after the property company reported a 7.4% increase in underlying profits to £390 million in the year to the end of March.
EasyJet PLC (LON:EZJ) added to losses, with shares down 1.32% even as the airline said its decision to add more seats in locations its competitors are retrenching from will help it rebound from its loss-making first half.
Financial stocks were also mostly lower, as Barclays (LON:BARC) edged down 0.12% and the Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) slipped 0.15%, while Barclays declined 0.38%. Lloyds Banking (LON:LLOY) overperformed however, with shares up 0.78%.
Meanwhile, mining stocks were mostly higher on the commodity-heavy index. Shares in Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) rose 0.36% and Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) advanced 0.96%, while Fresnillo (LON:FRES) surged 2.69%.
However, oil and gas major BP (LON:BP) saw shares slide 0.30% ahead of the company’s annual general meeting scheduled later Wednesday. Shareholders were set to vote on the group’s remuneration report which covers the pay and bonuses of BP executives.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a lower open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.46% slide, S&P 500 futures showed a 0.52% loss, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.40% drop.