By Ben St. Clair 

European stocks declined after Asian indexes registered a mixed performance Monday as trade disputes continued to loom over markets ahead of another week heavy in U.S. earnings results.

The Stoxx Europe 600 edged down 0.2% in morning trading, led by declines in the personal and household goods and travel and leisure sectors.

The auto sector declined 0.4% less than a week after President Donald Trump reiterated his threat to impose tariffs on European autos despite opposition from U.S. lawmakers and domestic and foreign auto makers. Trade is expected to be prominent on the agenda when European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker visits the White House on Wednesday.

Investors say they'll be watching for signs that tariffs are impacting corporate decision making, as more than one third of S&P 500 companies report results this week. The "big three" U.S. auto makers--Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler--and tech giants Facebook, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet are all set to report second-quarter earnings.

Corporate earnings so far have come in above expectations, with 87% of companies posting stronger-than-expected profits and 77% beating revenue expectations. Earnings are up 21% from the year-earlier period, which would mark the second-highest growth rate since the third quarter of 2010, according to FactSet.

"I would have expected better price reaction to" strong corporate earnings, said Craig Callahan, president and founder of ICON Advisers. Instead, trade uncertainty has left markets "interrupted or disrupted by investors guessing about events," Mr. Callahan said.

Markets have seesawed in recent months as investors reacted to heightened trade rhetoric and the imposition of U.S. tariffs and retaliatory measures from China and Europe.

Over the weekend, finance ministers and central bankers of the G-20 group of countries ended their meeting with little progress on resolving global trade tensions. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said "it's definitely a realistic possibility" that Mr. Trump would follow through with his threat to impose tariffs on $500 billion of Chinese goods.

In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up 0.1%.

Japan's Nikkei fell 1.3%, as a jump in the yen helped push currency-sensitive shares lower. The Japanese yen was up 0.4% against the dollar with the WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the U.S. currency against a basket of 16 others, down 0.1%.

Elsewhere, yields on 10-year U.S. Treasurys edged down Monday to 2.889% from 2.895% Friday afternoon. Bond yields move inversely to prices.

In commodities, Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, gained 0.3% to $73.29 a barrel. Gold edged down 0.04% to $1,230.60 an ounce.

Lauren Pollock and Peter Santilli contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 23, 2018 05:23 ET (09:23 GMT)