European shares opened lower on Friday on the back of the continued slump in US markets and weaker Asian markets overnight.

At the opening bell the pan-European Stoxx 600 had slipped almost 1.5% as all major European bourses fell into marginal red territory.

The sell-off on Wall Street continued overnight as the Dow fell almost 2%. Investors are worried about a global economic slowdown, the continuing trade dispute between China and the US and a potential government shutdown in Washington.

Fears over an upward trend in US interest rates, which went up again this week, have also dampened sentiment, which was reflected in falls on Asian markets.

Dankse Bank and national peer Jyske Banke were both leading fallers on Friday.

Shares in Danske, at the centre of an international investigation into alleged money laundering, fell as it cut its 2018 outlook for the second time this year, citing challenging market conditions on financial markets.

Denmark's biggest lender said it expects net profit for the year of around DKK15bn, down from the DKK16bn-17bn previously forecast.

Delivery Hero shares led the risers after the world’s biggest online food delivery firm on Thursday said it was selling its German food delivery operations to Netherlands-based Takeaway.com for €930m (£840m).

The deal value includes €508m in cash and 9.5m shares in Takeaway.com worth €422m. The news pulled along shares in UK online delivery service Just Eat.

Vodafone shares fell as the company said it was Vodafone confirmed on Friday it was sacking PricewaterhouseCoopers over litigation concerns, though it was not doing so immediately.

Rumours had been swirling for several days that the FTSE 100 telecoms giant would seek a new auditor, given the threat of litigation from PwC against Vodafone, over the failure of mobile retailer Phones 4U.

“While PwC are assessed as independent and will continue as the group's statutory auditors for the year ending 31 March 2019, it is uncertain how this matter may evolve and whether future developments may give rise to risks to audit independence,” the Vodafone board said in its statement.

US stocks closed sharply lower on Thursday, following on from losses seen in the previous session on the back of a less dovish than expected rate announcement by the Federal Reserve.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.99% to 22,859.60, while the S&P 500 lost 1.58% to 2,467.41 and the Nasdaq moved 1.63% weaker to 6,528.41.

The Dow ended more than 400 points lower on Thursday, following on from the 15-month low seen at the end of the previous session after the Fed hiked interest rates by 25 basis points for the fourth time this year, but lowered projections for future rate hikes and economic growth and downplayed the recent turmoil in financial markets.

The US central bank said it now expects two more rate hikes next year, down from a previous projection of three, but disappointing market participants who were pricing in just one. The Fed also cut its GDP growth estimate for this year by 0.1 percentage points to 3%, while 2019 growth outlook was reduced by 0.2 percentage points to 2.3%.

Deutsche Bank said: "The post-meeting statement, the dots and the press conference, combined, came across as a relatively balanced step in a more dovish direction for the Fed, but less so than the market was expecting."

"Although more rate hikes are likely coming, the timing is now less certain, as the Fed has clearly moved closer to slowing the current pace of tightening. Further rate hikes will increasingly be driven by both the incoming data and the performance of financial markets as they influence the economic outlook."

In other news, West Texas Intermediate fell 4.38% to $46.06 a barrel and Brent Crude dropped 4.54% to $54.64.

The USD slumped 0.42% against the GBP to 0.7898.

Over on the corporate front, Accenture lost 4.94% in the session after the release of its first-quarter results, while Conagra Brands tumbled 16.53% after its second-quarter numbers.

Walgreens Boots Alliance lost 5.02% despite its quarterly earnings and revenue beating analysts’ expectations, while BlackBerry had collected 2.72% by the end of the day after posting a better-than-expected quarterly profit.

In data news, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose less than expected last week, according to data from the Labor Department.

US initial jobless claims were up 8,000 to 214,000, falling a little short of expectations for a reading of 216,000.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average fell by 2,750 to 222,000. The four-week average is considered more reliable as it smooths out sharp fluctuations in the more volatile weekly figures, giving a more accurate picture of the health of the labour market.

Continuing claims - which represent the number of people already collecting unemployment benefits - increased to 1.688m from 1.661m the week before, versus expectations of 1.665. The four-week moving average came in at 1.673m, up 6,750 from the previous week's unrevised average.

Elsewhere, manufacturing conditions in the Philadelphia region unexpectedly deteriorated in December, to a more than two-year low, according to a survey released on Thursday.

The Philadelphia Fed current manufacturing activity index fell to 9.4 from 12.9 in November, hitting its lowest level since August 2016, with more than 26% of manufacturers reporting increases in overall activity this month, while 17% reported declines.

The new orders index increased five points to 14.5 but remains notably lower than its average reading for the year. Meanwhile, the current shipments index was down 12 points to 10.0 - its lowest reading in 27 months.

Both the unfilled orders and delivery times indices were positive this month, suggesting higher unfilled orders and slower delivery times.

Officials are planning to tell Britons to change what they eat in the event of a chaotic Brexit because Whitehall predicts that some sources of fresh food from European Union countries would be cut off. The government has begun detailed planning on food supplies if Britain leaves without a deal and has identified a number of sites for massive hangars to stockpile food, including one near Carlisle and others in Scotland and on the south coast. - The Times

England’s chief medical officer has called on the government to consider imposing taxes on foods high in sugar and salt, as it has done with sugary drinks, and accused the food industry of failing to help deliver healthier diets. In her annual report, Dame Sally Davies said tougher action was needed. Obesity and diseases such as type 2 diabetes were taking a huge toll of health and the economy, she said, and a voluntary agreement with the industry to lower sugar and salt content had not worked. - Guardian

Police are considering shooting down the drone causing chaos at Gatwick Airport as passengers face disruption for a third day. On Friday morning, the airport re-opened its runway after 36 hours to "a limited number of flights" due to "additional mitigating measures" from the Government and the military, according to Gatwick's chief executive. - Telegraph

Britain’s car manufacturing output fell by almost a fifth in November, as Brexit worries and weakening demand in key markets affected the industry. Car manufacturing declined by 19.6% in November compared to the same month in 2017, a steeper decline than the 10% year-on-year fall that occurred in October, according to industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). - Guardian

A senior politician has warned that the government’s proposed new takeover rules could lead to conflicts between business and defence interests in Britain and must be properly implemented. Rachel Reeves, MP, chairwoman of the business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) committee, said that although the government was proposing a bigger role for ministerial intervention in certain foreign takeovers, it was still unclear how it planned to implement the new rules or whether it even had the resources to manage the expanded regime. - The Times

The owner of British Gas is to bring a legal challenge against Ofgem, accusing it of setting the energy price cap too low, costing Britain’s biggest supplier £70 million. Centrica last night said it was seeking a judicial review against the regulator over how it calculated wholesale costs that suppliers face when it set the cap. - The Times

Retailers are hoping for a surge in sales this weekend as shoppers switch from ordering online to hitting the high street for last minute Christmas purchases. Friday is expected to be the busiest shopping day of the year for non-food retailers, with about a fifth more shoppers visiting high streets, retail parks and shopping centres than on a typical day. - Guardian

Councils will have to cut more services without extra funding once new arrangements to give them greater financial independence come into force after 2020, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned. Libraries, children’s social services, public health, housing and bin collections could be at risk as social care costs swallow up local authority budgets. - The Times

A recently floated peer-to-peer business lender lost a fifth of its market value yesterday after a leading analyst raised the alarm over the quality of the loans arranged on Funding Circle’s platform. Citi, the Wall Street bank, warned that “evidence of a credit deterioration” had raised doubts over the group’s ability to continue growing at its current breakneck pace. - The Times

Prosecutors in Japan have re-arrested Carlos Ghosn, possibly ending any hopes the former Nissan chairman had of an early release from detention over financial misconduct allegations. Ghosn, who has been detained for more than a month, was re-arrested on Friday morning on suspicion of aggravated breach of trust and could face another 10 days in detention. - Guardian

Staff working at KPMG have complained about being treated like children after the accountancy firm said that it would punish them for missing deadlines to file important paperwork. The Big Four accountant said employees who failed to complete their timesheets — a log of how many hours they have spent working on projects that are submitted each week — would be fined £100. - The Times