Europe close: Stocks trim early losses thanks to banks
European stocks closed off their worst levels of the day as lenders's shares advanced on expectations for tighter central bank policy around the world.
By the end of the session, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was down by 0.67% or 2.56 points to 380.43, alongside a fall of 0.58% for the German Dax to 12,381.25 although the FTSE Mibtel managed to carve out an advance of 0.69% to 21,084.19.
The Stoxx 600's sub-index of lenders' shares was a source of strength, rising 0.65% to 188.15.
Earlier in the day, news of what some labeled a "soft" French government debt sale sent yields on the country's benchmark 10-year note ten basis points higher to 0.92%, with those on similarly-dated bunds up by nine points to 0.56%.
In parallel, euro/dollar jumped 0.54% to 1.1412.
The above price action was despite remarks from European Central Bank chief economist Peter Praet in Paris, who said that "maintaining a steady hand continues to be critical to fostering a durable convergence of inflation toward our monetary policy aim."
On a similar note, the minutes of the ECB's last policy meeting, which were published on Thursday, appeared to indicate that policymakers in Frankfurt were very wary of sending mistaken signals which might lead to tighter financial conditions.
However, overnight French ECB governing council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau warned that non-standard monetary measures were "not eternal".
Fed minutes in focus
Acting as a backdrop, according to the minutes of the US Federal Reserve's 13-14 June meeting, officials were split about whether to announce the start of the slow process of winding down their balance sheet in the next few months or whether to wait until later in the year in order to gather more information on the outlook for the economy and inflation.
There were also divisions regarding the existence or not of looming financial stability risks.
Yet analysts appeared to be unfazed by the apparent splits, with those at Barclays Research reiterating their call for the Fed would announce the start to tapering its programme of quantitative easing in September.
German factory orders disappointed in May, bouncing back by 1.0% month-on-month, according to the Federal Office of Statistics, which was below the 1.5% rise projected by economists.
In April, they declined by 2.2% on the month.
US outfit runs ruler over German lender
Shares in German lender Commerzbank were moving higher on the heels of a Bloomberg report that US private equity outfit Cerberus might be pondering taking a stake in the lender.
Aerospace giant Airbus had reportedly asked Berlin to ensure that domestic companies receive a large share of the contract for a next-generation heavy-lift military helicopter valued at roughly €4.0bn.
Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Exxon Mobil reportedly met Qatar's emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani before the country announced it would increase its output of liquefied natural gas.