Europe open: Stocks slip in holiday-thinned trade but markets are up for the year

With German markets shut and France set to close early for the New Year’s Eve celebrations, European markets were unsurprisingly quiet on Thursday.

At 0920 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index was down 0.2% while France’s CAC 40 was 0.3% weaker amid low volumes.

The modest losses followed a downbeat session on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq dropped 117 and 42 points, respectively.

Still, for the year, European equities were looking at a higher close, with the Stoxx 600 up 7.6% year-to-date, the DAX 10.8% firmer and the CAC up 9.7%.

In commodity markets, oil prices steadied following more heavy falls in the previous session, with West Texas Intermediate up 0.4% at $36.76 a barrel and Brent crude up 0.6% at $36.67.

Oil prices tanked on Tuesday after the US Energy Information Administration reported a 2.6m barrel expansion in domestic crude stockpiles on the back of higher imports and production. Analysts had been expecting the EIA to report a drop in stockpiles.

Corporate news was thin on the ground.

In London, Sports Direct International shares nudged a touch lower after the company said it would pay its directly employed staff and casual workers above the National Minimum Wage from 1 January 2016.

The retailer came under fire recently following a damning newspaper report about the way it treats staff at its warehouse.

Vodafone was higher, however, on renewed speculation the company is in talks about a merger with US cable company Liberty Global.