European Shares Slide On US-China Tensions

(RTTNews) - European stocks were moving lower on Monday as robust U.S. jobs data released on Friday fanned fears of more interest rate hikes to cool inflation.

Increased tensions between the U.S. and China also weighed after the U.S. military on Saturday shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast.

The pan European STOXX 600 was down 0.9 percent at 456.78 after clocking two consecutive weeks of gains on optimism surrounding easing inflation and hopes for a potential slowdown in rate hikes.

The German DAX fell 0.9 percent to 15,331 despite data showing that German factory orders bounced back in December, driven by large-scale orders.

Factory orders rose 3.2 percent in December compared with a 4.4 percent fall in November on a price-adjusted basis, the statistics office Destatis said.

France's CAC 40 index fell 1.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.9 percent. Aurubis shares plunged around 6 percent. The German copper producer reported that its first quarter net income dropped 81 percent to 57 million euros from 301 million euros in the same quarter last year.

Novartis fell about 1 percent. Sandoz, a division of the Swiss drug maker, announced the FDA has accepted its Biologics License Application for proposed biosimilar denosumab.

Rovio Entertainment, the creators of mobile game Angry Birds, jumped more than 13 percent as it announced the commencement a strategic review and preliminary non-binding talks with certain parties regarding a potential tender offer.

Italian lender Banco BPM gained 1.1 percent after its Chief Executive Giuseppe Castagna ruled out a potential acquisition of Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

Diageo was down half a percent in London after the spirits maker launched a partial tender offer to increase its stake in East African Breweries Plc to up to 65 percent from 50 percent currently.

Eurazeo fell nearly 2 percent after the French investment company named a new executive board that will be led by two chairmen.