Europe midday: Oil prices, French politics in focus
Stocks were coming off their lows of the session heading into the opening bell on Wall Street, with investors continuing to keep a close eye on crude oil futures and a string of resignations in France's centre-right MoDem party, a key ally of President Macron.
As of 1201 BST, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was down by -0.41% or 1.60 points at 387.61, alongside a 0.50% or 63.64 point fall in Germany's Dax to 2,734.69 and a retreat of 0.77% or 41.33 points to 5,252.12 in the Cac-40.
Come midday, front month Brent crude futures were essentially flat, dipping by just 0.01% to $45.98 a barrel on the ICE following a drop early in the session, as investors awaited US oil inventory data scheduled for release later in the day.
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 $49.33 on average, down from the $55.75 level they had previously 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 at 1530 BST.
Acting as a further drag on sentiment towards French equities was news that Francois Bayrou, the leader of the MoDem party had resigned. A spokesperson for the Elysee said it was a "personal decision".
Bayrou's announcement followed the decision by the country's European Affairs Minister Marielle de Sarnez, also on Wednesday, to step down.
On Monday, the defence minister Sylvie Goulard handed in her own resignation after a preliminary probe into her party's funding.
In corporate headlines, 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.