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* BHP warns of slower growth outside of China
* Pandora slides as August lockdown stall recovery
* M&S reveals job cut plans, shares down
* U.S. stocks hit record, Europe 15% below all-time high
(Updates to market close)
By Sruthi Shankar
Aug 18 (Reuters) - European shares ended lower on Tuesday,
with banking and energy stocks leading the losses on worries
about escalating U.S.-China tensions even as a tech-powered
rally saw New York's S&P 500 hit an all-time high.
After hovering in the positive territory earlier in the
session, the pan-European STOXX 600 turned decidedly
lower in afternoon trading. The index closed down 0.6%, still
15% below its record high.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the benchmark S&P 500
hit an intra-day high, recovering all its losses made
since the onset of the coronavirus crisis in February, powered
by a rally in Amazon, Apple and other
tech-related companies.
"What we're seeing is some consolidation in European markets
given that in the past two months, we're more or less trading
sideways as opposed to the U.S. where growth stocks have been
lifting the overall market," said Matthias Bausch, senior cross
asset strategist at Commerzbank.
"Liquidity is more important than earnings growth at the
moment, and we have record high money supply growth in the U.S.
and Europe."
However, markets globally failed to make headway after the
Trump administration on Monday expanded its curbs on China's
Huawei Technologies Co, in a further escalation of
tensions between the world's two largest economies.
A lack of progress on the U.S. stimulus front has also
disappointed investors.
"The current stimulus stalemate persists, but a deal will
get done before the end of next month because that is when
federal funding runs out," noted Edward Moya, a senior market
analyst at Oanda.
Banks and energy sectors were among the
biggest drags on the STOXX 600, down more than 1%, with the
latter hit a slide in oil prices.
In earnings-driven moves, UK-listed miner BHP Group
fell 2.6% as its annual profit fell 4%, missing
analysts' estimate, and it warned that most major economies
except China will have to bear the brunt of a coronavirus-led
downturn this year.
Danish jewellery maker Pandora tumbled 7.5% as
it expected sales to decline this year by up to one-fifth,
despite having reopened nearly all its stores.
Britain's Marks & Spencer fell 4.9% after it
revealed plans to cut a further 7,000 jobs, dealing the latest
blow to the beleaguered retail sector from the COVID-19 crisis.
Among the bright spots, British housebuilder Persimmon
jumped 8.0% after saying it would reinstate its dividend
after an "excellent start" to the second half of the year.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun
Koyyur and Alison Williams)
Marks & Spencer (MKS)
Persimmon (PSN)