European stocks just had their worst day since the UK voted for Brexit as Huawei CFO's arrest rattles investors

Brendan McDermid/Reuters

• Euro Stoxx 600 index dropped 3.3% amid a global stock-market rout that followed the arrest of the CFO of the Chinese tech giant Huawei.
• Thursday's 3.3% loss was its biggest daily fall since June 24, 2016, the day after the UK voted to leave the European Union.
• It's close was the lowest since November 2016.
• Elsewhere, US stocks plummeted. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 2.87%, or about 715 points.
• Follow the latest stock movements at Markets Insider.

A closely watched benchmark for European stocks just endured its worst session in over two years Thursday, plunging as part of a global stock-market rout triggered by the arrest of the CFO of the Chinese tech giant Huawei.

The Stoxx 600 - which covers 600 companies in 17 different European countries, and is widely seen as the best Europe-wide proxy for market sentiment - lost 3.3% on the day, falling to its lowest level since November 2016.

That 3.3% loss was the biggest daily fall in the index since June 24, 2016, the day after the UK voted to leave the European Union.

The slump reflected global fears that Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou's arrest could reignite tensions between China and USA, less than a week after a meeting between President's Xi Jinping and Donald Trump appeared to have warmed trade relations between the global superpowers.

Read more: Chinese tech giant Huawei's CFO proves Trump's trade war is 'escalating to a new level,' and the stock market is spooked

Meng was arrested in Canada on suspicion of attempting to evade newly implemented US sanctions. The news, which emerged Wednesday, took investors further from their buoyant mood at the start of the week when tensions seemed to ease between China and the US.

Stocks were also blighted on the day by a fall in oil prices driven by news out of OPEC's final meeting of 2018 that the oil producers cartel is likely to cut output by less than had previously been expected.

Outside Europe, stocks in the US led global losses, returning to trading after markets had been closed Wednesday out of respect to former US President George H.W. Bush.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 2.87%, or about 715 points. The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.15%, and the S&P 500 was down 2.6%.