European Stocks Hover at One-Month Lows on Trade Jitters

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks were little changed on Wednesday as worries over global trade kept gains in check, while investors looked toward upcoming services data for the euro-area for clues on the state of the economy.

The Stoxx 600 Index edged 0.2% higher by 8:04 a.m. London time. Among single stocks, Airbus SE climbed 0.5% after United Airlines Holdings Inc. placed a $7 billion order for some of the French company's jets. Orange SA meanwhile fell 3.7% after the French telecoms company said that it plans to extract greater value from its network infrastructure.

It's been a bumpy start to the final trading month of 2019 as investor hopes that the trade dispute between the U.S. and China would find a resolution were dashed after President Donald Trump signaled there was no urgency to striking a deal. However, Europe's Stoxx 600 Index had been trading at its highest level since April 2015 at the end of last month.

“Generally, the market is, in our view, near a top,” Jeff Meyers, founder of Cobia Capital in New York, said in a phone interview. “We've had a rally since 2009, so it's been a pretty long time, so that gets us a little nervous.” Meyers added that economic numbers from the U.S. and China have also shown some weakness, raising the possibility that a recession might be in store.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kit Rees in London at krees1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Celeste Perri at cperri@bloomberg.net, Jon Menon

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