EUROPE MARKETS: European Stocks Dragged Lower, Shaken By Washington's Tax-reform Delay

Eurozone manufacturing PMI advances in November

Stocks across Europe were shoved lower Friday, with broad-based losses set in motion after U.S. lawmakers had trouble passing a long-awaited tax bill, leaving the regional equity market on course to drop on a weekly basis.

What markets are doing: The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.5% to 384.74. No sector showed gains after the oil and gas and health care sectors turned lower. Tech, financial and industrial shares were losing the most. On Thursday, the regional gauge shed 0.3% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-climb-for-3rd-day-as-credit-suisse-propels-bank-rally-2017-11-30) and closed November's trade down 2.2%.

The Stoxx 600 was looking at a weekly loss of 0.7%, which would mark its third weekly decline in four.

Germany's DAX 30 index slumped 1.2% to 12,866.44, and France's CAC 40 gave up 1.1% at 5,311.28. The indexes were on course for weekly losses of 1.5% each.

Spain's IBEX 35 fell 0.6% to 10,154.20 and Italy's FTSE MIB sank 1.2% to 22,096.34. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell 0.3% to 7,301.49.

What's moving markets: European equities fell alongside U.S. stock futures , which were losing ground after the U.S. Senate late Thursday suspended a vote on a tax bill as lawmakers continued to debate a number issues related to cutting rates for individuals and corporations.

Read:Here's what's next for the Senate's tax bill (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-whats-next-for-the-senates-tax-bill-2017-11-30)

The Stoxx Europe 600 Financial Services Index fell 1.2% and the Stoxx Europe 600 Bank Index declined 0.7%. Financial stocks were among those shaken by the tax-reform delay in Washington, with investors running to the perceived safety of sovereign bonds that sent their yields lower. The yield on Germany's 10-year bund fell 4 basis points to 0.327%

The crucial vote in the Senate on tax reform was expected to resume on Friday.

Ahead of the vote, the euro traded at $1.1904, on par with late Thursday's level in New York, and coming off an intraday high of $1.1942 on Friday.

What strategists are saying: "The dollar's short-term price action depends on how quickly the bill goes through the Senate but investors remain skeptical: they know that even if the bill clears the Senate it will still take time to be formally made into law and this weighs down on dollar's outlook so patience is advised," said Konstantinos Anthis, a research at ADS Securities, in a note.

Stock movers: Altice NV (ATC.AE) rose 1.7% as the French telecoms group said it plans to sell its Switzerland-based (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/altice-to-sell-swiss-data-center-assets-2017-12-01) data-center operations and telecommunications solutions business to InfraVia Capital Partners.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS.LN) fell 1.5% after the company said it will close 259 branches and cut 680 jobs (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/rbs-cutting-680-jobs-in-the-uk-as-mobile-banking-picks-up-2017-12-01) to reduce costs as more customers having been using mobile and online services.

Air France-KLM shares (AF.FR) were down 0.5% even as the airline's stock was upgraded to hold from sell at Deutsche Bank.

Economic data: IHS Markit said its final November manufacturing PMI reading for the eurozone came in at 60.1, up from October's print of 58.5 and marking its best reading since April 2000.

IHS Markit/CIPS said its U.K. manufacturing PMI for November was 58.2 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uk-manufacturing-pmi-picks-up-in-november-2017-12-01), and that was better than the FactSet estimate of 56.5.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 01, 2017 06:21 ET (11:21 GMT)