European Stocks Slip: Mining & Oil Sectors Bear Weight
European stocks opened the week in the red, dragged down by a combination of unfavorable global sentiment: concerns about the direction of artificial intelligence investments and extreme volatility in precious metals, which quickly put market participants on the defensive.
The pan-European STOXX Europe 600 index fell 0.7% shortly after the opening of the session on Monday (February 2). Sectoral movements tended to be uneven, but the most noticeable pressure came from the commodities sector: mining stocks led the decline by around 3%, followed by the oil sector, which fell 2.3%.
Pressure was also felt across major bourses. The FTSE 100, DAX, and CAC 40 all opened down more than 0.5%—a sign that risk appetite had not yet recovered at the start of the session.
Compounding the sentiment, Monday's European correction coincided with a similar pattern in global markets. This means it's not just a local European issue, but rather a "wave" of risk-off sweeping across assets and regions.
In Asia-Pacific overnight, markets had already weakened, with South Korea's benchmark index leading the decline. Investors were still monitoring gold and silver after Friday's sharp decline, which sparked concerns that volatility could spread to other assets—and that typically prompts fund managers to reduce risk exposure.
Meanwhile, in the US, stock futures also fell on Sunday night, as market participants also focused on Bitcoin's movement after the weekend sell-off. The combination of "volatile precious metals + AI concerns + risk-off across assets" made this European open feel heavier than usual—the market seemed to be waiting for a new catalyst to stabilize again.
Source: Newsmaker.id
