UKX FTSE 100 Index

By Emily Horton

Airlines lead gainers

European markets fell on Monday, after China announced its economy had expanded at the slowest annual pace since 1990.

How are the markets trading?

Most of Europe's major indexes were down on Monday, with the Stoxx Europe 600 falling by 0.3% to 356.03, after finishing up 2.25% for the week on Friday.

Leading the regional indexes losers, Italy's FTSE MIB lost 0.6% to 19,582.35.

Germany's DAX 30 fell 0.6% to 11,142.52, France's CAC 40 lost 0.2% to 4,865.48, the FTSE 100 Index remained mostly unchanged at 6,973.12.

The British pound was steady at $1.2872 from $1.2986 late in New York on Friday. Meanwhile, the euro dipped to o$1.1371 from $1.1392.

What's driving the markets?

(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-mulls-easing-tariffs-against-china-in-order-to-calm-markets-pave-way-for-deal-2019-01-17)Chinese government officials on Monday announced that economy expanded by 6.6% over 2018, down from 2017's 6.9%, the slowest annual pace China has recorded since 1990 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-posts-slowest-economic-growth-since-1990-2019-01-20). The trade conflict with Washington adds to this gloom, with the uncertainty over a trade-truce stunting investment in Chinese exporters.

In the U.S., the White House and congressional Democrats are each putting forward new proposals to end the partial government shutdown, however discrepancy over key issues remains, The Wall Street Journal (https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-democrats-float-proposals-to-end-shutdown-but-wide-gaps-remain-11548010772) reported.

In Switzerland, the World Economic Forum kicked off, with its founder, Klaus Schwab, saying that President Donald Trump would have been an "interesting discussion partner" (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/davos-chief-says-global-economic-growth-must-be-more-inclusive-2019-01-20) at its annual Davos event, but acknowledged that the partial U.S. government shutdown scuttled those plans.

In the U.K., Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to try Reuters to try to crack (https://uk.reuters.com/) the political stalemate over the Brexit by outlining proposals in parliament that are expected to focus on winning more concessions from the European Union. However, given the rejection of May's deal and the lack of clarity over the options available to the U.K. government, it seems more likely that Britain's exit from the European Union will be delayed beyond March 29.

What stocks are active?

William Hill PLC (WMH.LN) dropped 3%, after warning it expects to adjust its operating profit for 2018 to fall 15% on year (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/william-hill-warns-2018-earnings-will-fall-2019-01-21), however this drop would be in line with previous guidance.

Home improvement retailer Kingfisher PLC (KGF.LN) lost just under 4% and Demark's Pandora A/S (PNDORA.KO) dropped by almost 3%.

Airline Air France-KLM (AF.FR) led Europe's gainers, adding just over 5% and Ryanair Holdings rose 3.4%.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 21, 2019 08:32 ET (13:32 GMT)

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