European stock markets struggled for positive ground on Wednesday, as investors geared up for a barrage of important U.S. economic data, and the minutes of the October Federal Open Market Committee meeting.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index was flat at 322.67.
Among the major indexes, the German DAX 30 index retreated 0.08%, while the French CAC 40 index weakened 0.15% and the FTSE 100 index fell 0.27%.
In line with the broad consensus, the MPC members unanimously voted to keep unchanged both the refi rate and the purchases of Gllts at 0.5% and £375 billion, respectively.
The BoE minutes also showed that uncertainty still persists. More important, the BoE emphasized that the unemployment rate at the 7% threshold does not necessarily represent a trigger for hiking rates.
In EMU data released showed on a monthly basis the German PPI fell 0.2% in October, compared with the 0.3% growth in September. Analysts expected the indicator to remain unchanged. On an annual basis PPI fell 0.7% in October, after dropping 0.5% in September and slightly below expectations of -0.6%.
Among stocks on the move, shares of Metro AG rose over 3% after the German retailer was raised to overweight from equal-weight at Barclays.
Leading the downside, Wirecard AG fell nearly 5% after Barclays cut the shares to equal-weight from overweight.
Also lower, Alcatel-Lucent SA fell close to 5% and ThyssenKrupp AG fell 2.6%. The steelmaker is reportedly in talks to sell its Alabama plant to ArcelorMittal SA and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp., who have joined up for a bid. ThyssenKrupp said Tuesday that it’s in exclusive talks to potentially sell the U.S. plant.
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