Investing.com – European stocks fluctuated around the unchanged mark in choppy morning trade on Thursday as investors weighed global data.
Just after midday in Europe, the benchmark Euro Stoxx 50 inched up 0.04%, France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.14%, and Germany’s DAX 30 traded down 0.19%.
Thursday’s session was the first opportunity for European equities to price in the prior day’s release of the Federal Reserve’s minutes from the last policy meeting that revealed that the possibility of future fiscal policy expansion drove the debate of future rate hikes.
Investors also digested China’s Caixin services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) that saw activity in the sector during December beat consensus and hit its highest level since July 2015.
The retail PMI for the euro zone also provided good news as the sector moved back into expansion in December.
Producer prices for the region managed to move higher for a third consecutive month on a monthly basis with the annual reading finally entering positive territory for the first time since 2013.
Over in the U.K., service sector activity hit a 17-month high in December as the British economy continued to defy widely-held expectations of a Brexit-driven slowdown.
On the company front, shares in Persimmon (LON:PSN) jumped nearly 6% as the British home builder reported an 8% in revenues.
Also on watch were European insurers as JP Morgan insisted that growth potential in the sector was under-appreciated and mentioned Ageas (BR:AGES), Allianz (DE:ALVG), Swiss Re AG (SIX:SRENH), Aviva (LON:AV) and St. James’s Place PLC (LON:SJP) as their favorite firms in the region’s industry.
In legal issues with Germany companies, Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) reached a $95 million settlement on a U.S. accusation of tax fraud, while a U.S. judge ruled that Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) will have to stand trial before a lawsuit resulting from its emissions scandal.
Meanwhile, oil prices traded flat as investors looked ahead to official data from the Energy Information Administration on U.S. crude stockpiles.
After markets closed Wednesday, the American Petroleum Institute said that U.S. oil inventories fell by 7.4 million barrels in the week ended December 30, exceeding expectations for a 1.7-million-barrel decline.
This week's reports come out one day later than usual due to Monday's New Year holiday.
Energy stocks were trading mixed, as French oil and gas major Total SA (PA:TOTF) fell 0.91% , Italy’s ENI (MI:ENI) dropped 0.45%, while Norwegian rival Statoil (OL:STL) gained 0.63%.
Financial stocks were also mixed, as French lenders BNP Paribas (PA:BNPP) slipped 0.03% and Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) slumped 1.73%, while Germany’s Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) and Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) traded up 1.53% and 1.47%, respectively.
Among peripheral lenders, Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo (MI:ISP) was up 1.26% and Unicredit (MI:CRDI) gained 1.43%, while Spanish banks BBVA (MC:BBVA) advance 0.28% and Banco Santander (MC:SAN) traded up 0.82%.
In London, the commodity-heavy FTSE 100 slipped 0.10%, despite the positive economic data.
Shares in Glencore (LON:GLEN) gained 1.33%, Anglo American (LON:AAL) rose 0.84%, and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) traded up 0.30% . Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) bucked the trend with losses of 0.88%.
Energy stocks were mixed, as BP (LON:BP) fell 1.02% and rival Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) lost 0.77%.
Financial stocks were mixed. Shares in HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) inched down 0.11% and the Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) gave up 0.13%, while Barclays (LON:BARC) gained 0.45% but Lloyds Banking (LON:LLOY) fell 0.11%.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a lower open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped 0.05%, S&P 500 futures dropped 0.13%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures gave up 0.17%.