Europe open: Stocks on backfoot as Brussels ups price of Brexit divorce settlement

Stocks started the session on a slightly lower note amid news that the European Union had raised its 'Brexit bill' to up to €100.0bn and ahead of a televised French election debate later in the day between the two remaining candidates.

As of 0912 GMT the benchmark Stoxx 600 is off by 0.12% to 389.02, as Germany's Dax slips 0.12% to 12,493.26 and the Cac-40 falls back 0.18% to trade at 5,294.45.

Reports indicate that Brussels is now asking for an upfront payment from HM Treasury of up to €100.0bn, although in net terms the final amount would be closer to roughly €55bn to €65bn over the longer-term.

That is up from the €60.0bn figure which European Commission chief Jean Claude Juncker had bandied about in the past.

Acting as a backdrop, investors are also thought to be playing it safe ahead of the US central bank's policy announcement later in the day, with sentiment having been dented overnight following the latest quarterly results out of US tech giant Apple.

"This rebound in economic activity in Europe is expected to be reflected in today’s Q1 GDP number which is expected to come in at 0.5%, up from 0.4% and appears to be coming at a time when some of the hard data in the US is starting to show some worrying signs of a slowdown, which may well have implications for US central bank policy when the FOMC come to look at whether to raise rates again when they meet next month, in June.

"Currently markets are assigning a fairly high probability that we’ll see another move on rates next month, and while the Nasdaq continues to make record highs on a daily basis, the Dow and S&P500 have been trading sideways just below their record peaks from March this year," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

On the economic calendar for Wednesday, at 1000 GMT Eurostat will publish euro area GDP and producer price data referencing the first quarter and the month of March, respectively.

They will be followed by the ADP payrolls report in the States at 13:15 GMT, the ISM services sector PMI at 15:00 GMT and the minutes of the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting at 19:00 GMT.

China's HNA Group has increased its stake in Deutsche Bank to 9.9%, according to a source close to the lender, Reuters reports.

In other news, the head of the German lender's capital markets division told Boersen-Zeitung he is worried about the prospect of being cut off from the London Clearing House following Brexit.

Volkswagen has reported a 44% jump in first quarter profits.

BNP Paribas saw first quarter profits rise 4.4% in the first three months of 2017.