Stocks fall among rising recession concerns

The pan-European Stoxx 600 began the season around 0.6 percent lower, with most sectors and big reds in red. France's CAC index was the worst performer in the early deals and fell 1 percent.

Market jokes have grown recently over growing signs of slowing economic growth and a possible downturn. German production contracted for the third consecutive month, showed the IHS Markit data on Friday, and drew the dividend on the 10-year bond to negative territory for the first time since October 2016.

US yield curve – which plot bond yields from shortest maturity to highest and is considered a barometer of economic feeling ̵[ads1]1; conversely for the first time since mid-2007 on Friday.

When looking at individual stocks, LVMH initially fell 8.8 per cent before comparing losses. Reuters reported that the significant downturn at the start of the session was due to an erroneous "fat finger" deal, where a mistake leads to a deal that was bigger than expected or made in the wrong stock. Last year, shares in the French luxury producer were 0.4 per cent.

Bayer also saw that his shares fell 2.6 percent after a downgrade from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The pharmaceutical firm's managing director recently said the board is continuing to support the management after a US jury ruled against the company in a trial of its Roundup weedmord.

Elsewhere, US special councilor Robert Mueller's two-year investigation into alleged coordination between President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia has come to a conclusion. Lawyer William Barr said on Sunday that the probe did not find sufficient evidence of interactions between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

The news is likely to be a blessing to Trump, who has long called the survey a "witch hunt" and claimed there was "no connection" between his presidential campaign and Moscow.