Unsurprisingly European stocks open in the red- FTSE 100 in focus here

Of course it has been a lower opening for the European stock markets today. Live trading kicked off here in the red around 15 minutes ago, but the losses have not been anything like what was priced into the futures a few hours ago. The FTSE 100 has seemingly garnered some support from the pretty miserable UK sales data released earlier this morning. Yesterday the index again failed to tackle that 7,900 level, but still closed higher on the day. The FTSE gained 29 points, to close at 7,877. Earlier this morning the FTSE 100 futures were pricing a reopening to perhaps below 7,750. However, that was pared back significantly into the opening and now the index is hovering just below 7,850. It does face a rather uncertain session ahead though, as do all the European stock markets today, ahead of the weekend and a session that will be very much headline driven as the day unfolds