Investing.com - European stocks opened lower on Tuesday, as investors remained cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting, due to begin later in the day, and the Brexit vote scheduled next week.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 tumbled 1.06%, France’s CAC 40 retreated 0.92%, while Germany’s DAX 30 dropped 0.82%.
Markets have pushed back expectations on the timing of the next rate hike by the U.S. central bank after a dismal U.S. employment report for May, which showed the slowest rate of jobs growth since September 2010.
Meanwhile, the Leave camp seems to be gaining momentum ahead of the June 23 vote on a potential British exit from the European Union, or Brexit. According to a YouGov poll for The Times released on Monday, "Leave" held 46% support compared with 39% support for "Remain."
Financial stocks were broadly lower, as French lenders BNP Paribas (PA:BNPP) and Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) tumbled 1.19% and 1.30%, while Germany’s Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) and Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) dropped 0.56% and 0.58%.
Among peripheral lenders, Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo (MI:ISP) declined 0.66%, while Spanish banks BBVA (MC:BBVA) and Banco Santander (MC:SAN) lost 1.30% and 1.29% respectively.
Elsewhere, Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) tumbled 1.87%. The automaker made headlines earlier after saying it had chosen Omnicom's PHD as its new global media agency of record, ending its relationship with WPP (LON:WPP)'s MediaCom after nearly two decades.
But investors remained cautious with the stock as CEO Matthias Müller was set to announce his long-term vision for the company, also called Strategy 2025, on Thursday.
In London, commodity-heavy FTSE 100 dropped 0.56%, weighed by losses in the mining sector.
Shares in Glencore (LON:GLEN) tumbled 1.75% and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) plummeted 2.25%, while Anglo American (LON:AAL) dove 3.05%.
Financial stocks added to losses, HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) eased 0.09% and the Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) declined 0.65%, while Lloyds Banking (LON:LLOY) and Barclays (LON:BARC) lost 0.95% and 1.88% respectively.
Meanwhile, shares in Persimmon (LON:PSN) slipped 0.21% after the housebuilder defended its executive pay plan that could see its senior managers share a £600 million bonus pot, saying it is "designed to drive outperformance."
The announcement after one of the company’s investors, Royal London Asset Management said the payment was "too high" for an industry where growth is being supported by government measures.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a steady to lower open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.03% dip, S&P 500 futures a 0.07% downtick, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.13% slip.