European stocks struggled for direction on Wednesday after Chinese factory output, investment growth and retail sales figures all missed expectations, due to disruptions caused by COVID-19 outbreaks in the country's southern export powerhouse of Guangdong.
Meanwhile, data from the Office for National Statistics showed earlier in the day that U.K. consumer price inflation accelerated to 2.1 percent in May from 1.5 percent in April.
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Business News
May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.