Investing.com - European stocks opened lower on Friday, as corporate earnings continued to dominate market movements and as a fresh political tensions in Washington dampened market sentiment.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 retreated 0.71%, France’s CAC 40 tumbled 1.12%, while Germany’s DAX 30 declined 0.64%.
Markets were jittery after the latest attempt to repeal the Obama-era healthcare act failed in Washington.
At least three Republicans voted against the bill, which needed a simple majority to pass in the Senate. President Donald Trump reacted to the vote by saying the three had "let the American people down".
Financial stocks were broadly lower, as French lenders BNP Paribas SA (PA:BNPP) and Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) lost 0.27% and 1.15%, while Germany’s Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) and Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) declined 0.25% and 0.52%.
Earlier Friday, BNP Paribas reported erl-396||better-than-expected second-quarter earnings, saying that a diversified banking model helped it to weather the recent trading activity downturn more successfully than other large lenders.
Among peripheral lenders, Italy’s Unicredit (MI:CRDI) and Intesa Sanpaolo (MI:ISP) dropped 0.24% and 0.52% respectively, while Spanish banks Banco Santander (MC:SAN) and BBVA (MC:BBVA) slid 0.69% and 0.60%.
Banco Santander said on Friday that erl-474||net profit and net interest income rose in line expectations. In addition, the bank’s CEO Ana Botín said that executives are "extremely confident that the acquisition of Popular will deliver a return on investment of 13%-14% by 2019."
In Switzerland, UBS also posted better-than-expected second-quarter profits on Friday, but shares still plummeted 3.39%, alligning with the financial sector’s overall downward trend.
In London, FTSE 100 declined 0.45%, weighed by BT Group (LON:BT), whose shares retreated 2.56% after the firm reported a 42% fall in pretax profit to £418 million after taking a £225 million charge related to its Italian accounting scandal.
Mining stocks added to losses on the commodity-heavy index. Shares in Glencore (LON:GLEN) dropped 0.92% and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) lost 1.35%, while rivals Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) and Fresnillo (LON:FRES) plummeted 1.53% and 1.55% respectively.
Financial stocks were also mostly lower, as the Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) and HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) both declined 0.53%, while Lloyds Banking (LON:LLOY) retreated 0.84%.
However, Barclays (LON:BARC) outperformed, with shares surging 2.18% even after reporting a loss of £1.2 billion in the first half of the year due to its withdrawal from Africa and the ongoing payment protection insurance scandal.
Diageo (LON:DGE) was one of the top performers on the index, with shares up 2.20% after the distiller said it would buy back £1.5 billion in shares as it raised its profitability targets on the back of a 25% rise in full-year pre-tax profits.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a lower open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.10% slip, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.23% fall, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.79% drop.