European stocks were lackluster for a second day on Tuesday, as Greek officials raced to negotiate a voluntary restructuring on sovereign debt that would help avoid a potentially nasty default.
Stocks moved higher after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that interest rates should stay very low in the U.S. despite January's strong jobs report.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks was up 0.23 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, eased 0.27 percent.
Around Europe, the German DAX was virtually unchanged, France's CAC 40 was up 0.18 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.15 percent and Switzerland's SMI was flat at last check.
UBS AG eased 1.6 percent after the Swiss lender reported a 76 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit and issued a cautious outlook.
Xstrata Plc lost 4.8 percent after the mining company unveiled an all-share merger of equals with its 34-percent stakeholder Glencore International Plc.
Air France eased 1.9 percent in Paris after the French carrier said it expects to cancel up to 30 percent of its flights today because of a pilots' strike in protest over proposed changes to rules governing labor protests.
Deutsche Lufthansa eased 0.28 percent in Frankfurt on a Wall Street Journal report that the carrier's cabin crew is taking legal action against the company's plans to use contract workers at Berlin's new airport.
Daimler slipped 1.8 percent after the German automotive major said it has reduced the number of employee regulations to 1000 from the previous 1,800, according to the Financial Times Deutschland.
ArcelorMittal was up 2 percent as the world's largest steel maker reported earnings in line with estimates.
BP Plc lost 0.85 percent. The oil giant hiked its quarterly dividend by 14 percent after reporting a significant increase in profit for the fourth quarter, helped by higher oil prices.
Swiss watch maker Swatch was down 4 percent after it released disappointing sales figures.
German industrial production declined unexpectedly in December, data from the Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology revealed Tuesday.
Production dipped 2.9 percent from November, when it remained flat. Economists were expecting it to show nil growth as seen in the prior month.
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Market Analysis
June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.