BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The European markets traded modestly to the upside during the first half of Thursday's session, but turned lower after U.S. President Trump called off the planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump attributed the decision to the 'tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement.'
The U.S. Commerce Department has also initiated an investigation into whether imports of automobiles and parts threaten to impair U.S. national security. BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen, Renault and Peugeot fell 1-3 percent.
ECB policymakers agreed that the underlying growth momentum in the euro area remained intact, though the uncertainty regarding the outlook has increased, the minutes of the European Central Bank's April 25-26 rate-setting session showed Thursday.
'It was widely felt that uncertainty surrounding the outlook had increased and caution was seen as warranted in interpreting recent developments, also because the moderation in growth appeared to be broad-based across countries and sectors,' the minutes, which the ECB calls 'account' revealed.
'A more pronounced weakening of demand, notably related to external factors, could therefore not be ruled out.'
The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index weakened by 0.45 percent. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks decreased 0.57 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, lost 0.53 percent.
The DAX of Germany dropped 0.94 percent and the CAC of France fell 0.31 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. declined 0.92 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished lower by 0.27 percent.
In Frankfurt, Deutsche Telekom lost 1.81 percent after outlining its growth strategy for the period from 2017 through 2021.
In Paris, EDF slid 0.08 percent after Framatome said it will supply the energy group with enriched reprocessed uranium fuel assemblies over period 2023 to 2032.
In London, gambling firm Paddy Power Betfair rallied 2.67 percent after it agreed to merge with the U.S. fantasy sports company FanDuel.
Tate & Lyle surged 7.32 percent after it reported that its profit for year ended 31 March 2018 increased to 265 million pounds or 56.5 pence per share from 256 million pounds or 54.4 pence per share in the prior year.
Kingfisher advanced 0.51 percent after it announced that its total group sales were 2.83 billion pounds for the first quarter, down 1.2 percent on a reported basis and down 2.5 percent at constant currency rates.
Daily Mail And General Trust sank 9.87 percent after the publisher of the Daily Mail issued a cautious outlook.
Mediclinic International tumbled 9.42 percent after it reported that its fiscal 2018 loss attributable to shareholders was 492 million pounds, compared to profit of 229 million pounds last year.
Swiss food firm Aryzta plunged 26.72 percent after another earnings downgrade. Germany's economic growth halved as estimated in the first quarter on weak trade and government spending, detailed data from Destatis showed Thursday.
Gross domestic product grew 0.3 percent sequentially, slower than the 0.6 percent expansion seen in the previous quarter. This was the weakest growth in more than a year and matched the provisional estimate published on May 15.
Germany's consumer confidence is set to weaken in June, survey data from market research group GfK showed Thursday. The forward-looking consumer sentiment index dropped by 0.1 points to 10.7 in June. The score was forecast to remain at 10.7.
France's manufacturing sentiment remained unchanged in May, survey data from the statistical office Insee showed Thursday. The manufacturing sentiment index held steady at 109 in May. The score was forecast to fall to 108.
UK retail sales grew at the fastest pace in one-and-a-half years in April, after heavy snow dampened spending at the start of the year.
Retail sales volume, including auto fuel, expanded 1.6 percent month-on-month, in contrast to a 1.1 percent fall in March, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed Thursday. Sales were forecast to climb moderately by 0.9 percent.
For the second consecutive week, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing a weekly increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims climbed to 234,000 in the week ended May 19th, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's revised level of 223,000.
The increase came as a surprise to economists, who had expected jobless claims to edge down to 220,000 from the 222,000 originally reported for the previous week.
After reporting a bigger than expected increase in U.S. existing home sales in the previous month, the National Association of Realtors released a report on Thursday showing existing home sales pulled back by much more than expected in the month of April.
NAR said existing home sales tumbled by 2.5 percent to an annual rate of 5.46 million in April after climbing by 1.1 percent to a rate of 5.60 million in March. Economists had expected existing home sales to edge down by 0.2 percent.
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