Source: Sharecast
The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was down 0.54% % at 538 with major bourses mixed. Countries have until July 9 to reach deals with the US or face massive tariffs.
“Trade talk is heating up again as President Trump’s 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs nears its end. Markets are starting to see that Trump’s bark is worse than his bite, with news that the White House might dial back its tariff plans to avoid reigniting a global trade war the latest example of a softer touch," said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Matt Britzman.
"European markets have had a choppy open this morning, but the FTSE 100 managed to edge out some gains, as investors try and gauge what’s to come."
In economic news, inflation across the eurozone picked up slightly in June to meet the European Central Bank's 2% target, according to data out on Tuesday from Eurostat.
The year-on-year change in consumer prices accelerated to 2.0% last month, up from 1.9% in May and in line with economists' expectations. Over the month of June, prices were up 0.3% following no change the month before.
The increase in the annual rate was partly attributable to a pickup in services inflation to 3.3% from 3.2%, while energy price deflation eased significantly to -2.7% from -3.6%.
Meanwhile, the European Central Bank’s latest period of monetary policy interventions to bring inflation in check is “done,” its chief economist said on Tuesday.
“We do think the last cycle is done, bringing inflation down from the peak of 10[%], back to 2%, that element is over, but on a forward-looking basis we do need to stand ready to make sure that any deviation we see does not become embedded, does not change the medium-term picture,” Philip Lane told CNBC at a conference in Portugal.
Meanwhile, shares in Standard Chartered fell as the bank faced a $2.7bn lawsuit over the siphoning of funds from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund.
Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com