Europe open: Stocks modestly lower in early trading ahead of CPI release

Stocks were trading a bit lower across the Continent in the early part of the session as traders waited on the release of euro area consumer price data.

Consensus was for a one tenth of a percentage point increase in the year-on-year rate of increase in CPI during the month of August to 9.1%.

As at 0940 BST, the pan-European Stoxx 600 was slipping by 0.50% to 417.51, alongside a 0.49% decline for the German Dax to 12,897.78.

In the background, Brent crude oil futures were off by roughly 2% to $97.34 a barrel on the ICE, but Dutch TTF natural gas futures were bouncing 15.7% to €281/MWh.

Euro/dollar meanwhile was off a tad, drifting lower by 0.23% to 0.9992.

In economic news, Germany's Federal Labor Agency reported a one tenth of a percentage point increase in the country's rate of unemployment to 5.5% during the month of August, alongside a 28,000 rise in jobless claims, as expected.

On the other side of the Pond, at 1315 BST consultancy ADP will publish its private sector payrolls report for August, which often sees market volatility pick up.

Two hours later, Market News International will release its factory sector Purchasing Managers Index covering the same month.