New Delhi, July 28 -- LONDON - Britain's FTSE 100 drifted lower Monday and German equities posted modest gains as a summer earnings season rich with positive surprises failed to overcome the gravitational pull of a broad selloff in technology shares that swept from New York to European exchanges before the opening bell even rang in London.

corporate results beating analyst estimates across financial, energy, and industrial sectors, and a technology rout that has shaved nearly four percent from the Nasdaq Composite over the past week as traders reassess expectations for Federal Reserve policy.

What propelled the tech selloff was a series of comments from Federal Reserve officials last week pushing back against market bets that rate cuts ...