European Stocks Drifting Lower Ahead Of Fed Policy Announcement

(RTTNews) - European stocks are down in negative territory around noon on Wednesday with investors largely staying cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, due later in the day.

Markets had closed higher on Tuesday, after data showing a smaller-than-expected increase in U.S. consumer price inflation in the month of November helped ease concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rate by another 50 basis points today, although the tamer than expected inflation data is likely to prompt the policymakers to slow down the pace of tightening from early next year.

The European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank are scheduled to announce their policy moves on Thursday.

The pan European Stoxx 600 is down 0.62%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 is drifting down 0.3%, Germany's DAX is lower by 0.74% and France's CAC 40 is declining 0.66%. Switzerland's SMI is down 0.41%.

In the UK market, BT Group is rising more than 3%. Fresnillo is gaining about 2.8%.

TUI is plunging more than 7%. IAG, Royal Mail, Carnival, Pennon Group, Auto Trader Group, Easyjet, Halma, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are down 1.4 to 2.5%.

In the French market, ArcelorMittal is down nearly 4%. Carrefour is lower by about 3.3%.

Capgemini, Alstom, Dassault Systemes, Vinci, Airbus Group, WorldLine, Societe Generale, STMicroElectronics, Kering and Pernod Ricard are down 1 to 2%.

In the German market, HelloFresh is declining more than 6%. Zalando, Symrise, Adidas, Brenntag, Deutsche Wohnen, Volkswagen, SAP and Deutsche Post are lower by 1 to 2%.

Merck is rising nearly 2%, while E.ON, Covestro and HeidelbergCement are up with modest gains.

In economic news, official figures from the Office for National Statistics said UK consumer price inflation moderated in November from a 41-year high in October largely on easing transport cost.

The data said consumer prices posted an annual increase of 10.7% in November, down from 11.1% in October, which was the highest since 1981, and also weaker than economists' forecast of 10.9%.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices gained only 0.4%. Monthly inflation was expected to ease to 0.6% from 2% in October.

UK house price inflation accelerated in October due to the low base of comparison, another report from the Office for National Statistics said. House prices advanced 12.6% on a yearly basis in October, up from 9.9% in September.

Meanwhile, Eurozone industrial production declined for the first time in three months in October with almost all sectors contracting as economic uncertainty and higher producer prices took a toll on demand.

After rising for two straight months, industrial output dropped 2% from September, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union reported on Wednesday.

The pace of decline exceeded the expected 1.5% drop and also reversed the revised 0.8% rise in September.