Investing.com – European stocks traded lower on Monday as a Friday selloff in U.S. tech stocks took its toll on the sector on the eastern side of the Atlantic.Nearing midday trade in Europe, the benchmark Euro Stoxx 50 lost 0.80%, France’s CAC 40 fell 0.82% while Germany’s DAX 30 traded down 0.64%.
Despite the fact that the Nasdaq managed to hit a record high last Friday, sentiment turned with the tech-heavy index closing with losses of 1.8%, pulled down by major names such as Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) or Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX).
Apple closed Friday with losses of nearly 4%, its largest drop in 14 months, but shares were trading around 2% lower in pre-market trade on Monday as the tech giant received its second downgrade in a week.
Mizuho Securities cut is recommendation on Apple to hold from buy with a reduction in the target price by $10 to $150 as these analysts believe that the release of the iPhone 8 will not expand the user base.
The negative sentiment hit European tech shares with firms in the semiconductor industry populating the list of decliners on the Stoxx 600. Ams AG (SIX:AMS), STMicroelectronics (MI:STM), ASM International (AS:ASMI), Temenos Group AG (SIX:TEMN) and Dialog Semiconductor (DE:DLGS) were all falling more than 4%.
With no major economic reports on Monday’s calendar, political developments were the major focus.
Parliamentary elections in France gave a large majority to recently elected President Emmanuel Macron while the populist Five Star Movement in Italy suffered a setback in local elections carried out Sunday.
The new British cabinet was set for its first meeting on Monday have U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May saw her government weakened to a minority in elections she herself called hoping to reinforce the Conservative Party’s position.
Meanwhile, oil prices traded slightly higher on Monday, recovering from weekly losses of near 4% spurred by concerns over rising production in U.S. shale and from oil producers such as Libya and Nigeria that are except from output curbs in the OPEC agreement with non-OPEC members.
In Europe, energy stocks traded mostly higher, as French oil and gas major Total SA (PA:TOTF) slipped 0.02%, Italy’s ENI (MI:ENI) gained 0.86%, while Norwegian rival Statoil (OL:STL) rose 0.61%.
Financial stocks registered were mostly lower, as French lenders BNP Paribas (PA:BNPP) and Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) fell 1.60% and 1.92%, respectively, while Germany’s Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) traded down 1.23% and rival Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) lost 1.03%
Among peripheral lenders, Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo (MI:ISP) fell 0.23% but Unicredit (MI:CRDI) advanced 0.06%, while Spanish banks BBVA (MC:BBVA) and Banco Santander (MC:SAN) lost 1.55% and 1.47%, respectively.
In London, the commodity-heavy FTSE 100 lost 0.35%.
Shares in Glencore (LON:GLEN) fell 0.54%, Anglo American (LON:AAL) lost 0.28%, while BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) traded down 1.28% and 0.46%, respectively.
Energy stocks moved higher, as BP (LON:BP) gained 0.99% and rival Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) rose 1.13%.
Financial stocks were broadly lower, with shares in HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) down 0.99% and Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) off 0.84%, while Lloyds Banking (LON:LLOY) and Barclays (LON:BARC) lost 0.87% and 0.92%, respectively.
In the U.S., stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.11%, S&P 500 futures lost 0.23%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures traded down 0.90%.