Europe midday: Stocks move into the black

European stocks were heading higher for the most part in early afternoon trading as investors reacted to just released key US inflation data.

According to the Department of Commerce, the annual rate of increase in headline PCE inflation slowed from 2.6% in May to 2.5% for June, as expected.

At the core level on the other hand, which is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure, PCE prices were unchanged at 2.6% year-on-year.

Against that backdrop, as of 1345 BST, the pan-European Stoxx 600 had put on 0.61% to 511.74, alongside a 0.88% gain for the Cac-40 to 7,492.03.

The Ibex 35 was the exception, drifting lower by 0.03% at 11,142.30.

Euro/dollar was up by 0.12% to 1.0857 while Brent crude oil futures were off by 0.51% to $81.86 a barrel on the ICE.

INSEE's consumer confidence index ticked higher by one point from the month before to reach 91 in July.

In parallel, ISTAT reported an improvement in its own gauge of Italian consumer confidence from 98.3 for June to 98.9 in July.

Retail sales in Spain were reported as up by 0.3% in annual terms during the month of June, as opposed to the 0.2% gain seen in May.