European stocks are seen opening little changed on Wednesday ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve policy statement due later in the global day. With the U.S. economy showing mixed signals of improvement, the Fed is not expected to announce any immediate change in its monetary policy. Nevertheless, investors are waiting for a definite answer from the Fed on when it would start tapering its massive bond-buying program.
The European Central Bank and the Bank of England are also expected to reaffirm their commitment to lower interest rates for a prolonged period when the central banks meet tomorrow to take a decision on interest rates and monetary policy.
Meanwhile, ECB President Mario Draghi has expressed his desire to publish minutes of the Governing Council meeting. Seeing it as "a necessary next step", he reportedly told German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung that the ECB Executive Board will present a corresponding proposal to the Governing Council for discussion and decision. Earlier this week, ECB Executive Board members Benoit Coeure and Joerg Asmussen also spoke in favor of publishing the minutes.
Asian stocks are mostly lower as investors adopt a cautious stance before the outcome of the Fed meeting and U.S. reports on GDP, private sector employment and Chicago-area business activity due later in the global day.
Closer home, consumer inflation in the United Kingdom slowed in July, representing the third straight decline and the biggest drop in more than six years, according to survey results reported by the British Retail consortium. The BRC's shop price index fell 0.5 percent from a year earlier.
Separately, the results of a survey released by research firm GfK showed that British consumer confidence rose to its highest level in more than three years in July. The headline consumer confidence index rose by 5 points to minus -16.
The euro dropped against other major currencies after official data showed German retail sales fell unexpectedly last month.
In corporate news, French lender BNP Paribas reported a 4.7 percent drop in second-quarter net income to 1.76 billion euros, versus 1.85 billion euros a year before.
Carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroën narrowed its half-year net loss to 426 million euros from 818 million euros last year.
German conglomerate Bayer AG maintained its 2013 forecast after posting a surge in second-quarter 2013 net income to 841 million euros from 481 million euros last year.
Volkswagen AG confirmed its full-year forecasts despite reporting an 11.6 percent decline in first-half operating profit to 5.78 billion euros.
HeidelbergCement AG posted a surge in its profit for the second quarter and said it is aiming for an increase in revenue, operating income and profit before tax for 2013.
Diageo Plc. reported profit before tax of 3.123 billion pounds for the year ended June compared to 3.121 billion pounds last year.
European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. reported higher profit and revenues for the first half of 2013, driven mainly by its commercial aircraft business. Further, the company announced plans to change its name to Airbus Group and integrate Airbus Military, Astrium and Cassidian into one defense and space division.
Schneider Electric reported a 5 percent decline in group net income for the first half, hurt by foreign exchange losses and increased taxation.
European stocks ended Tuesday's session in positive territory, with sentiment boosted by upbeat German consumer sentiment data and continued improvement in economic confidence in the eurozone. Investors were also confronted by a mixed bag of earnings reports. France's CAC 40 rose half a percent, while the German DAX and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained about 0.2 percent each.
U.S. stocks closed mixed overnight as traders seemed reluctant to make any significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary-policy statement and a key employment report slated for release later this week. Investors also reacted to a mixed batch of economic data showing continued increase in home prices in major metropolitan areas and a bigger than expected drop in consumer confidence. The Dow and the S&P 500 ended little changed, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained half a percent.
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