Europe midday: Stocks at session lows after PMI data
Stocks were near their worst levels of the session, following a weaker-than-expected reading on the state of the euro area manufacturing and services sectors, although analysts were sanguine.
As of 1159 BST the benchmark Stoxx 600 was off by 0.37% or 1.45 points to 387.08, as the Dax left behind 88.36 points or 0.69% to trade at 12,705.64 and the Cac-40 gave back 0.58% or 30.37 points, slipping to 5,251.56.
In parallel, euro-dollar was 0.13% higher to 1.1168.
"The euro is also trading a little higher today, supported by good PMI numbers from the eurozone, Germany and France. While some of the numbers have come off their recent highs, they still remain well above 50 – the level that separates growth from contraction – and point to stronger growth for the region. It’s also encouraging that the manufacturing PMI for the euro area hit a multi-year high in June, which bodes well heading into the second half of the year," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.
IHS Markit´s composite Eurozone manufacturing and services sector purchasing managers output index for June fell from 56.8 in May to 55.7 for June - a five-month low.
Weakness was centred on services, with the composite output gauge for that sector retreating from 56.3 to 54.7.
Economists had forecast a print of 56.6.
Nonetheless, for IHS Markit's chief business economist, Chris Williamson, June's figures should to be interpreted in the context of recent elevated readings.
"Despite the June dip, the average expansion in the second quarter has been the strongest for over six years and is historically consistent with GDP growth accelerating from 0.6% in the first quarter to 0.7%," he said.
French gross domestic product sped ahead at a 0.5% quarter-on-quarter clip, the same as over the previous three months (consensus: 0.4%).
Still on the European economic calendar for Friday, the Belgian central bank was set to publish its business confidence gauge for June at 1200 BST.
Scheduled for release later in the session, IHS Markit was also due to release its US factory sector PMI for June at 1445 BST, followed by new home sales data from the Commerce Department at 1500 BST.
Following that, the presidents of the St.Louis Fed, James Bullard, and Cleveland Fed chief Loretta Mester were expected to take to the podium in the afternoon.
On the corporate front, Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that Allianz was planning to cut 700 jobs in Germany over the next three years.
According to Italian daily Il Messaggero, the European Commission granted an informal green light to the rescue of Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca.