Investors are also bracing for China's response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Taiwan visit, which has angered the CCP.

Among stocks, cybersecurity firm Avast jumped 42% after it won regulatory approval for NortonLifeLock's $8.6 billion deal.

Meanwhile, Hiscox dropped 8% after posting a first-half pretax loss of $107 million.

 

Things to read today:

Hawkish Remarks from Fed Officials prompt jump in Treasury Yields (Financial Times)

UK Is Already in Recession and Is Heading for Stagflation (Bloomberg)