FTSE 100 down 0.77%; DAX down 1.16%; CAC 40 down 1.57% (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Milan , 25 Jul - European shares opened lower, dropping for s second day after losses in Asia and on Wall Street overnight. The Stoxx 600 index was down 1.08% in early trade.

Caution prevailed as the second quarter earnings season gathered pace.

Investors monitored earnings reports from European companies including Nestle, Unilever, Kering, Stellantis, Renault and Roche.

Traders also assessed a tech-driven selloff in the US, with the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 recording yesterday their worst sessions since 2022 as disappointing earnings from US giants Tesla and Alphabet hammered the technology sector.

The sector was already nursing sharp losses last week on profit taking as expectations of US interest rate cuts prompted investors to rotate into more economically sensitive sectors.

TRaders also monitored German consumer confidence and eurozone and UK business activity data ahead of next week's eurozone gross domestic product figures for the second quarter.

Key US GDP figures are due later today, while the US core personal consumption expenditures index, the Federal Reserve's favoured inflation measure, will be released tomorrow. The index is seen rising 0.1% in June, pulling the annual increase down a tick to 2.5%.

Political uncertainty continued to keep sentiment in check after US president Joe Biden over the weekend dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed vice president Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.

The move was broadly expected after Biden's underwhelming debate performance against Donald Trump in June, and after polls recently showed the increasing likelihood of an election win by Trump in November.

European shares closed lower in the previous session amid concerns for a global economic slowdown after flash purchasing managers' index data showed that business activity stalled in the eurozone in July. Similarly, preliminary data from the US showed that factory activity unexpectedly slowed in the world's largest economy. Disappointing earnings from large European banks also weighed.

Today at 0734 GMT, the London FTSE 100 was down 0.77% at 8,090 points, the Frankfurt DAX was down 1.16% at 18,167 points, the Paris CAC 40 down 1.57% at 7,395 points, while in Milan the FTSE MIB was down 1.88% at 33,825 points, and in Madrid the IBEX 35 was down 1.23% at 11,072 points.

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(RADIOCOR) 25-07-24 09:42:09 (0245) 5 NNNN