Europe open: Banks, Big Oil lead losses

Losses for Big Oil and banks were dragging European stocks lower at the start of trading.

As of 0847 BST the benchmark Stoxx 600 was down by -0.63% or 2.48 points at 386.73, alongside a 0.62% or 80.23 point fall in Germany's Dax to 2,734.69 and a retreat of 1.08% or 57.15 points to 5,236.67 in the Cac-40.

In parallel, front month Brent crude futures were slipping 0.67% to $43.22 a barrel on the ICE as investors awaited US oil inventory data scheduled for release later in the session.

Weighing on sentiment perhaps, overnight analysts at Macquarie cut their projections for the average price of Brent oil in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

For 2018, they now saw Brent trading at $52.75, down from the $55.75 level they had estimated, while in 2019 it was now seen at $52.75, as opposed to a previous forecast of $60.63.

"Our long-term forecast reductions reflect productivity gains in tight oil, as well as greater shale resource prospectivity, and falling break-evens globally," the Australian broker said.

Macquarie also downgraded stock in BP and Royal Dutch Shell to 'underperform' and 'neutral', respectively.

The Energy Information Administration, the US Department of Energy's statistical arm, was scheduled to publish its latest weekly tally of US oil and product stockpiles.

On the corporate front, according to reports in the Italian press Wednesday marked the deadline to present offers for Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca's good assets. Intesa Sanpaolo was widely considered to have the greatest chance of success.

Air Berlin chief Thomas Winkelmann told Tagesspiegel his group no longer required state guarantees.