The European markets are trading mixed on Wednesday, as investors wait anxiously for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to testify on the outlook for the U.S. economy before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and New York Fed President William Dudley said Tuesday that there is no case yet for curtailing bond purchases, given low inflation and mixed signals for growth prospects.
Retail sales in the UK declined unexpectedly in April, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics showed. Retail sales volume, including auto fuel, fell 1.3 percent month-on-month in April against forecast for a 0.1 percent increase. Sales, excluding fuel, dropped 1.4 percent compared with an expected 0.1 percent growth.
Minutes of the policy meeting released by the Bank of England showed that the call for additional stimulus by Chief Mervyn King was overturned by other policymakers for the fourth consecutive month.
As seen in previous months, King, Paul Fisher and David Miles sought an increase in quantitative easing by 25 billion pounds to 400 billion pounds.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is falling 0.41 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is advancing 0.61 percent.
The German DAX and the French CAC 40 are losing 0.2 percent each. The UK's FTSE 100 and Switzerland's SMI turned positive in afternoon trading and are up around 0.1 percent each.
In Frankfurt, Daimler and BMW are notably lower. Volkswagen is losing moderately after Macquarie raised the stock to ''Outperform'' from ''Neutral.''
Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank are marginally lower. Nomura reduced its rating on Commerzbank.
Morgan Stanley raised Metro to ''Overweight'' from ''Equalweight.'' The stock is gaining 5.4 percent.
In Paris, Saint-Gobain is losing 2.6 percent and STMicroelectronics is falling 2.4 percent.
Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole are in negative territory.
JPMorgan raised Lagardere to ''Neutral'' from ''Underweight.'' The stock is gaining 3.1 percent.
In London, ARM Holdings is losing 3.8 percent and Polymetal International is down around 3 percent.
Burberry and Wm Morrison Supermarkets are dropping 2.9 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.
Lloyds Banking is adding 1.7 percent after announcing that it is still confident on capital position.
Britvik is gaining close to 13 percent after stating that it sees full year earnings towards upper end of view.
Across Asia/Pacific, markets ended mixed. Australia's All Ordinaries slid 0.3 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.1 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell around 0.5 percent.
Japan's Nikkei 225, however, climbed 1.6 percent after the Bank of Japan decided to keep its ultra-loose monetary policy unchanged, as expected.
In the U.S., futures point to a higher open on Wall Street. Besides Bernanke's speech, data on existing U.S. home sales as well as the minutes of the latest Fed meeting are expected today.
In the previous session, stocks posted modest gains after home improvement retailer Home Depot raised its outlook for the year and comments from two Federal Reserve officials suggested the Federal Reserve remains far from winding down its bond-buying program. The Dow rose 0.3 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the S&P 500 edged up about 0.2 percent each.
In the commodity space, crude for July delivery is falling $0.63 to $95.55 per barrel while June gold is advancing $6.8 to $1384.4 a troy ounce.
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Market Analysis
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.