By Sruthi Shankar and Sagarika Jaisinghani
(Reuters) - European stocks fell on Thursday as simmering tensions between the United States and China, and elusive U.S. fiscal stimulus, pushed investors to book profits after four straight sessions of gains, while Airbus dipped as Washington left aircraft tariffs unchanged.
The pan-European STOXX 600 (STOXX) was off 0.4%, with Airbus (PA:AIR) sliding 1.2% after the U.S. government said it would maintain 15% tariffs on planes and 25% tariffs on other European goods, despite moves to resolve a long-standing dispute over aircraft subsidies.
London's FTSE 100 (FTSE) was at the front of declines among major European bourses, led by AstraZeneca (L:AZN), BP (L:BP), Diageo (L:DGE), Glaxosmithkline (L:GSK) and Legal&General (L:LGEN), which traded without entitlement to a dividend payout.
Still, with the U.S. S&P 500 index (SPX) within striking distance of a record high, analysts said there were few cues for global equities to pull back, with investors also disregarding U.S-China angst. [MKTS/GLOB]
"There's no stopping this market at the moment," said Michael Baker, an analyst at ETX Capital.
"There's not a lot negative sentiment (and) the market is fairly confident that a U.S. stimulus deal will be reached even if it's a last minute one."
U.S. Democrats and Republicans remain deadlocked after weeks of wrangling over a fifth coronavirus aid bill. President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused congressional Democrats of not wanting to negotiate because he was refusing to go along with "ridiculous" spending requests unrelated to the pandemic.
In Europe, the STOXX 600 is still about 14% below its all-time high as data points to a slower-than-expected rebound from the pandemic. A survey on Thursday showed German companies expect business to return to normal in an average of 11 months, with the number even higher for firms in the services sector.
Struggling conglomerate Thyssenkrupp (DE:TKAG) plunged 13.1% after it said its steel unit would rack up 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) in operating losses this year, raising pressure to fix or sell the division. The stock is on course for its biggest one-day decline in three months.
Danish brewer Carlsberg (CO:CARLb) slid 4.7% on warning that lockdowns will impact sales in the second half of the year in its key markets of China and Western Europe.
TUI (L:TUIT), the world's largest tourism company, fell 3.0% as it sunk to a 1.1 billion euro ($1.30 billion) loss in the third quarter due to the COVID-19 pandemic.