European markets pull back; Russian convoy appears to head for Kyiv

LONDON — European stocks were slightly lower on Tuesday morning amid reports that a significant Russian convoy is heading towards Ukraine's capital Kyiv.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 dropped 0.4% in early trade, with travel and leisure stocks shedding 2.4% to lead losses while basic resources gained 1.4%.

Russia appears to have upped the ante in its invasion of Ukraine overnight with reports and satellite imagery emerging of a long convoy, some 40 miles (65km) long, of Russian military vehicles heading towards Ukraine's capital Kyiv.

The satellite images were taken by Maxar Technologies on Monday and show a convoy of armored trucks travelling sometimes two or three vehicles abreast on the road. Official sources have not confirmed the convoy, however.

Other images from Maxar suggest additional military activity in southern Belarus, which borders Ukraine and is an ally of Russia, with ground forces deployments and ground attack helicopter units seen in the images. Again, official sources have not confirmed whether these units are preparing to join Russian forces in an assault on Ukraine. On Monday there were unconfirmed reports that Belarus could be preparing to help Russia's invasion.

Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Tuesday while U.S. stock futures also rose in overnight trading before the first trading session of March as investors continue to monitor the fighting between Russia and Ukraine.

Earnings in Europe came from Bayer, Covestro, HelloFresh and Zalando.

In terms of individual share price movement, German raw material company Covestro gained 5.6% to lead the Stoxx 600 in early deals after its earnings report, while compatriot e-commerce firm Zalando sank more than 8% to the bottom of the European blue chip index.

Data releases include German retail sales for January and final euro zone manufacturing activity data for February.