Europe midday: Stocks slip amid thin volumes

European stocks edged lower as oil prices declined in fairly quiet trade, with US markets set to open for just a half day later.

At midday, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index and France’s CAC 40 were down 0.06% and 0.21% respectively while Germany’s DAX was 0.09% lower.

“It’s been a slow start to trading on Friday, with yesterday’s bank holiday in the US weighing heavily on volumes and a severe lack of news flow leaving markets void of any significant catalysts,” said Oanda senior market analyst Craig Erlam.

Meanwhile, oil prices drifted lower as investors continued to look to next week’s OPEC meeting in the hope that a production cut will be agreed. West Texas Intermediate was down 1.1% to $47.48 a barrel and Brent crude was 1.1% weaker at $48.46.

In corporate news, Actelion surged following a report that US healthcare group Johnson & Johnson has made a takeover bid for the company.

BHP Billiton dipped after earlier gains. It announced that it and its Brazilian joint venture partner Vale have approved $181m to fund remediation and compensation programs at the Samarco iron ore project after a dam burst a year ago.

Remy Cointreau was on the front foot as Berenberg lifted the stock to ‘hold’.

In London, AstraZeneca was in the black after an upgrade by Liberum, but Daily Mail slid as Barclays downgrading its stance on the stock to ‘underweight’ from ‘equalweight’.

Earlier, data from the INSEE statistics agency showed French consumer confidence was stable at 98 points in in November, sticking to its highest level in more than nine years and in line with consensus forecasts.

Pantheon Macroeconomics said: “The sub-indices in this survey have shown very little movement in the past few months, but the direction this month was an improvement at the margin. Consumers’ outlook for their financial situation and standard living rose, while purchasing intentions remained unchanged at a high level.

“In addition, households’ employment expectations also rose. Finally, inflation expectations also edged higher. Overall, these data suggest that household consumption will rebound in Q4, after two weak quarters."