BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks fell heavily on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to hike tariffs on China, citing slow progress in trade talks between the world's two largest economies. China's official response is awaited.
The pan European Stoxx 600 was down 1.5 percent at 384.61 in opening deals after rising 0.4 percent on Friday.
The German DAX was losing 2.1 percent and France's CAC 40 index was declining 2.2 percent while the U.K. FTSE was closed for a public holiday.
Tariff worries weighed on the auto sector, with BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen, Renault and Peugeot losing 3-4 percent.
ASML Holding N.V lost 3 percent despite a U.S. court ruling in favor of the Dutch chip equipment maker in an intellectual property theft case against U.S. software maker Xtal.
Swiss drug major Roche dropped 1 percent despite winning the U.S. FDA approval for Kadcyla (trastuzumab emtansine).
Norwegian telecom major Telenor Group jumped 4 percent. The company is in talks with Malaysian telecom company Axiata Group Berhad for a possible non-cash merger of their telecom and infrastructure operations in Asia, in which Telenor plans to take a majority stake.
Thyssenkrupp AG plunged 4.7 percent. The company said on Sunday it still saw scope for agreement with European antitrust regulators on a planned joint venture with Tata Steel.
French energy major Total tumbled 2.7 percent. The company has reached a binding agreement with Occidental to acquire Anadarko assets in Algeria, Ghana, Mozambique and South Africa for a consideration of $8.8 billion.
Airbus shares dropped over 2 percent on a Reuters report that the aerospace and defense major is considering suing the German government over the ban on arms exports to Saudi Arabia.
In economic releases, Eurozone investor confidence improved strongly in May to its highest level since November, exceeding economists' expectations, survey data from the behavioral finance research group Sentix showed.
The investor confidence index rose for a third successive month to 5.3 from -0.3 in April. Economists had forecast a score of 1.1.
Eurozone retail sales were unchanged from the previous month in March, while they were expected to fall modestly, preliminary data from the statistical office Eurostat showed.
Retail sales were flat on a monthly basis, after rising 0.5 percent in February.
The final eurozone PMI for April came in slightly ahead of the flash estimate.
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