Investing.com - European stocks were lower on Monday, as fresh uncertainty over the outcome of the U.S. presidential election weighed on market sentiment.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 slid 0.36%, France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.40%, while Germany’s DAX 30 slipped 0.22%.
Markets were jittery amid heightened political uncertainty after the FBI said it would review more emails related to Hillary Clinton's private email use.
Financial stocks were mostly lower, as French lenders BNP Paribas (PA:BNPP) and Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) declined 0.87% and 0.98%, while Germany’s Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) dipped 0.03% and Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) added 0.19%.
Among peripheral lenders, Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo (MI:ISP) and Unicredit (MI:CRDI) tumbled 1.04% and 1.79% respectively, while Spanish banks Banco Santander (MC:SAN) and BBVA (MC:BBVA) lost 0.69% and 1.06%.
Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) added to losses, with shares down 1.04% after the French company said Friday that it had signed an agreement with Ukraine's TSO UkrTransGaz on gas transmission and storage, making it the first European energy group to be actively involved in Ukraine's wholesale gas market.
On the upside, Infineon Technologies AG NA O.N. (DE:IFXGn) jumped 0.91% after saying that it has launched the first online prototyping engine combining analog and digital simulation functionalities in an internet application.
In London, FTSE 100 dropped 0.41%, as U.K. lenders tracked their European counterparts lower.
Shares in Barclays (LON:BARC) slid 0.38% and HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) retreated 0.70%, while Lloyds Banking (LON:LLOY) declined 0.94% and the Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) tumbled 1.34%.
Mining stocks were mostly higher on the commodity-heavy index. Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) inched up 0.04% and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) climbed 0.49%, while Glencore (LON:GLEN) advanced 0.59% and Fresnillo (LON:FRES) rallied 1.18%.
WPP (LON:WPP) was one of the top performers on the index, up 3.72% after the marketing company reported higher than expected third-quarter income growth but said its business in the U.K. slowed after “perhaps the first signs of Brexit anxiety.”
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a higher open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.17% rise, S&P 500 futures showed a 0.21% increase, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.39% gain.