European stocks opened slightly lower, with Kering and Philips rising, while BP and Standard Chartered faced pressure

European stocks opened slightly lower as investors digested the earnings of European companies. The market is focused on the political pressure faced by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, as his appointed UK ambassador to the US becomes embroiled in the Epstein scandal, causing a backlash.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell by 0.64 points or 0.1% to 620.77 points; the UK FTSE 100 index dropped by 41 points or 0.4% to 10,344 points; the French CAC 40 index rose by 29 points or 0.3% to 8,355 points; the German DAX index decreased by 35 points or 0.1% to 24,979 points; the Spanish IBEX 35 index fell by 34 points or 0.2% to 18,160 points; the Italian FTSE MIB index declined by 85 points or 0.2% to 46,737 points.

French luxury goods company Kering reported sales performance exceeding expectations, with its stock price rising by 10%. Hermès and Burberry each rose by 2%. BP PLC announced a suspension of share buybacks, leading to a 5.3% drop in its stock price. Standard Chartered's CFO was poached by US fund company Apollo, causing its stock price in London to fall by 4.6%. Philips' stock price rose by 6%, as the company reported a 6% increase in comparable orders for the year and returned to profitability.

In US stock futures, Dow futures were flat at 50,219 points; S&P 500 futures fell by less than 1 point to 6,982 points; Nasdaq 100 futures dropped by 10 points to 25,343 points.

In the Asia-Pacific stock market, Shanghai stocks rose by 0.1%, Shenzhen stocks increased by less than 0.1%, Hong Kong stocks climbed by 0.6%, while Taiwan and Japanese stocks rose by 2.1% and 2.3%, respectively. Korean stocks increased by less than 0.1%, Australian stocks fell by less than 0.1%, and New Zealand stocks rose by 0.5%. The Indian stock market recently rose by 0.2%, and the Singapore stock market recently increased by less than 0.1%