LONDON (Reuters) - European stock markets opened lower on Wednesday, exerting more caution than Wall Street, where the benchmark S&P 500 reached a record high in its longest-ever bull-market run.
At 0730 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.1 percent, with no trend evident as investors waited to see whether the United States and China could make progress towards resolving their trade conflict.
Political developments in the United States apparently have had little effect, at least so far. President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was found guilty on charges of tax and bank fraud.
Shares in Belgian biopharma Argenx (BR:ARGX) posted the best performance of the STOXX 600, up 6 percent after Abbvie (N:ABBV) exercised an option to develop and commercialize a drug.
Denmark's Jyske Bank (CO:JYSK) was the worst performer, down 4.8 percent after it published its results for the second quarter.
Atlantia (MI:ATL) rose 1.2 percent. Italian state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) may buy a controlling stake in Autostrade per l'Italia, two sources told Reuters, while some members of the anti-establishment government have suggested that the motorway network should be nationalized after the disaster that killed 43 people.