Investing.com - European markets opened mixed in cautious trade on Monday, as investors focused on a fresh batch of earnings reports, amig ongoing concerns over Brexit negotiations and U.S. tax reform plans.
The EURO STOXX 50 inched 0.03% higher, France’s CAC 40 dipped 0.01%, while Germany’s DAX 30 was up 0.11% by 03:40 a.m. ET (07:40 GMT).
Investors remained cautious following reports over the weekend that 40 Conservative members of the UK parliament agreed to sign a letter of no-confidence in Prime Minister Theresa May.
That is eight short of the number needed to trigger a party leadership contest and force Theresa May from office.
Separately, Brexit minister David Davis said on Sunday that Britain will not offer a figure or a formula for how much it believes it owes the European Union.
Markets were also jittery after U.S. Senate Republicans unveiled a tax plan on Thursday that differed from the one crafted by House Republicans, highlighting the challenges to reconciling the differences between the two plans with just a short time before the year-end deadline they have set to pass it.
Financial stocks were broadly lower, as French lenders BNP Paribas (PA:BNPP) and Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) declined 0.73% and 0.77%, while Germany's Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) and Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) dropped 0.55% and 1.87%.
Among peripheral lenders, Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo (MI:ISP) retreated 0.82%, while Spanish banks Banco Santander (MC:SAN) and BBVA (MC:BBVA) fell 0.04% and 0.24%.
Elsewhere, ArcelorMittal SA (AS:MT) shares declined 0.78% after rallying on Friday when the steel company reported better-than-expected third-quarter core profit and upbeat expectations for 2018, citing favorable market conditions.
In London, commodity-heavy FTSE 100 gained 0.41%, boosted by Astrazeneca (LON:AZN), whose shares surged 2.36%, recovering from some of the previous session's losses posted after the company said drug sales fell in the third quarter, affected by generic competition. However, the pace of decline slowed compared to previous quarters.
Mining stocks added to gains on the commodity-heavy index. Shares in Glencore (LON:GLEN) rose 0.36%, while BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) advanced 0.81%, while Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) rallied 0.96%.
Meanwhile, financial stocks were broadly lower. Lloyds Banking (LON:LLOY) and the Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) retreated 0.72% and 0.73% respectively, while Barclays (LON:BARC) dropped 0.78% and HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) tumbled 1.07%.
Coca Cola HBC AG (LON:CCH) was one of the worst performers on the index, down 4.84%. The bottling company reported higher third-quarter sales last Thursday, boosted by volume growth in developing and emerging markets.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a steady to higher open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.07% uptick, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.08% gain, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.11% rise.