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European stocks slipped on Monday, as investors looked set to take a breather on the heels of a record session, and as U.S. markets will be closed for a holiday.
The Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP, -0.24% slipped 0.2% to 423.53. The index logged a fresh record close on Friday, closing up around 1% to 424.56. For the week, it gained nearly 1.3%, the biggest weekly gain since the week ended Dec. 20.
The German DAX 30 index DAX, -0.02%, which had its second-biggest close in history on Friday, was down 0.2% to 13,504.89, while the French CAC 40 PX1, -0.32% fell 0.4% and the FTSE 100 UKX, -0.39% slipped 0.2%.
U.S. stocks closed at record highs on Friday, with gains driven by upbeat economic data and company earnings, alongside encouraging signs on global trade disputes. Stocks and other markets will not trade on Monday in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.
Read: Which markets are closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day (and which aren’t)?
Investors have a busy week ahead though, with a policy decision coming from the European Central Bank on Thursday, as well as a batch of earnings on Tuesday that include Swiss banking group UBS UBS, -0.45% and in the U.S., streaming company Netflix NFLX, +0.31%, information technology group IBM IBM, +0.24% and oil-field services group Halliburton HAL, +0.63%.
Banks, pharmaceuticals and apparel and footwear companies led the declining sectors in Europe.
Among stocks on the move, shares of BAE Systems BA, +2.66% rose 2.5% after the defense and security company said it would buy Collins Aerospace’s Military Global Positioning System and Raytheon’s Airborne Tactical Radios businesses for $2.2 billion.
Near the top of the decliners list, shares of Air France-KLM AF, -3.92% fell 3.5% after analysts at Davy Research cut shares to neutral from outperform, saying the airline’s turnaround plan “will deliver limited benefits.”
Davy kept a neutral rating on airlines Deutsche Lufthansa LHA, -1.90% and EasyJet EZJ, -1.22%, with those shares down 2% and 1.6% respectively. Davy analysts said restructuring costs and rising passenger taxes were “notable earnings headwinds” for Lufthansa.
