Europe midday: Stocks slip as oil prices decline

European stocks were slightly weaker on Wednesday as mostly well-received corporate news helped to offset sliding oil prices.

At midday, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index was down 0.3%, while Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 were both 0.1% lower.

At the same time, oil prices retreated after oil workers in Kuwait agreed to end their three-day strike, returning output to normal levels and reigniting worries about oversupply.

West Texas Intermediate was down 2.2% to $40.17 a barrel while Brent crude was off 1.4% to $43.41.

“After such an incredible start to the week, the ability to maintain such an intense pace of stock market gains was always questionable,” said Joshua Mahony, market analyst at IG.

“For now, it feels like where oil prices go, everything follows, with gold now even shedding its role as a safe haven asset to instead trade within a positive correlation with crude.”

Some well-received corporate news helped to keep a lid on losses, however.

Chip designer ARM Holdings rallied after its first-quarter results beat analysts’ expectations.

BHP Billiton shares were higher after it cut its iron ore production guidance and said it was on track to deliver an average unit cost improvement of 14% across its major assets.

Heineken was also in the black after the brewer said beer volumes in the first quarter rose sharply, partly due to a strong performance in Vietnam and China.

On the downside, German software company SAP was on the back foot as its first-quarter sales missed analysts’ expectations.

On the macroeconomic front, data released by Destatis earlier shower German producer prices were flat on the month in March versus expectations for a 0.2% increase.

Compared with the same month last year, prices were down 3.1, which was steeper than the 2.9% drop pencilled in by economists.

Energy prices were a big contributor, down 9.2% compared with March last year, with prices of intermediate goods down 2.3% and price of non-durable goods 0.3% lower.

However, prices of capital goods rose by 0.6% and of durable consumer goods by 1.4%.