The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell 1.7% in early trade with travel and leisure stocks plunging 4% to lead losses, as all sectors and major bourses slid into negative territory.
Investors exited stocks like Apple and Microsoft, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 off their record highs. Both of those stocks lost at least 2% to start the week.
Investors around the world are also focused on the latest inflation data this week; China released data Tuesday that showed consumer prices data in April jumped 0.9% from a year ago, slightly missing the 1% forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll. However, the producer price index rose 6.8%, beating the 6.5% projected by analysts polled by Reuters.
U.S. inflation data is released Wednesday amid growing concerns that the Federal Reserve will be prompted to tighten its monetary policy stance as prices rise along with the reopening of the global economy.
