Europe open: Traders eye speeches from Draghi and Yellen
Traders on the Continent were pushing shares a little lower at the start of trading ahead of a speech from European Central Bank governor Mario Draghi later in the morning and following mixed closes in the States and in Asia overnight.
The day before, Draghi highlighted to a group of university students in Portugal how youth unemployment was still "very high" with the ECB's 'price stability' having yet to be met as well.
At 0828 BST the benchmark Stoxx 600 was trading lower by 0.34% or 1.34 points to 387.71, while the German Dax was down by 0.46% or 59.12 points at 12,712.00 and the Cac-40 was on its backfoot, slipping 0.45% or 24.08 points to 5,271.67.
"A mixed opening call (FTSE & Dow flat, DAX lower) echoes stateside and Asian sessions overnight. This despite oil prices continuing to firm, challenging the ceiling of their 1-month falling channel, most recently thanks to fresh USD weakness ahead of what could be more disappointing US data, mixed Fed rhetoric and uncertainty about the US healthcare bill and future Trump stimulus," said Michael van Dulken and Henry Croft at Accendo Markets.
Acting as a backdrop, speaking at the World Economic Forum Chinese premier Li Keqiang said China was able of achieving the government's target for 6.5% growth in gross domestic product in 2017, while keeping systemic risks under control.
On the calendar for Tuesday was a speech from European Central Bank governor Mario Draghi at 0900 BST, alongside the latest readings on Italian business and consumer confidence.
In the UK, the Financial Policy Committee was scheduled to publish its Financial Stability report at 1030 BST.
Later in the day, the focus would be on speeches from four top US central bank officials, including chair Janet Yellen herself at 1800 BST.
Before that, at 1500 BST, the Conference Board would publish its consumer confidence barometre for the month of June.
Credit rating agency Moody's said Intesa Sanpaolo's acquisition of the goods assets of Banca Veneto and Banca Popolare di Vicenza.
Meanwhile, in Spain, recently rescued lender Bankia took over Banco Mare Nostrum in all-shares deal valuing the latter at €825m.
Shares in Stada plummeted on news that private equity groups Bain Capital and Cinven failed to win the requisite amount of shareholder acceptances.
German automotive supplier Schaeffler slumped after launching a profit warning on Monday.