Europe close: Stocks end lower after brief intra-day spike on report of more ECB stimulus

Stockmarkets on the Continent were little changed by the end of trading on Wednesday, even as the rich world's economic watchdog took an axe to its forecasts for growth in the Eurozone.

However, share prices did register a sharp spike higher in the latter part of the session after a sourced report from Bloomberg that the European Central Bank was set to unveil lower growth forecasts that would justify delivering a new round of medium-term loans for lenders in the bloc.

But capturing the mood in markets, IG's Chris Beauchamp told clients: "The chances of a deal with China this month look a bit weaker now, while more trade conflict with Europe seems increasingly likely. The assumption now is that trade wars will intensify, and that growth will suffer as a result, providing a less congenial outlook for equities."

Contributing to those doubts, on Wednesday the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development slashed its forecast for Eurozone GDP growth in 2019 1.8% to 1.0%, calling on the ECB to consider providing further stimulus and on those national governments that could afford it to boost spending.

At the close, the benchmark Stoxx 600 had drifted lower by 0.04% to 375.48, alongside a 0.28% decline for the German Dax to 11,587.07, although the FTSE Mibtel had put on 0.65% to finish at 20,851.56.

In particular, the OECD was now expecting German growth to be far weaker, printing at roughly 0.7% instead of the 1.6% previously envisaged.

Italy wasn't expected to fare particularly well either, with the Mediterranean country's GDP seen shrinking by 0.2%, instead of the 0.9% expansion the OECD had anticipated in November.

In parallel, and amid a lack of fresh catalysts that might spur renewed buying, investors were monitoring the newsflow out of the National Peoples's Congress in China.

Speaking on the sidelines of the NPC, National Development and Reform Commission vice chairman, Ning Jizhe, reportedly said China was willing to meet the US halfway.

But at least some top Chinese officials, such as ex-finance minister, Lou Jiwei, said any concessions from Beijing were unlikely to be big and reportedly labeled US demands "unreasonable and nitpicky".

No major economic releases were released in the euro area on Wednesday.

However, central banks in Poland and Turkey did announce policy decisions, keeping their respective short-term official interest rates at 1.5% and 24.0%, respectively.