European Shares Flat To Lower Ahead Of US Inflation Data, Fed Meeting

(RTTNews) - European stocks were subdued on Tuesday as investor focus shifted to Wednesday's U.S. consumer price data and the Federal Reserve interest-rate decision.

The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but traders will pay closer attention to Fed officials' updated projections for the economy and rates.

Meanwhile, the latest employment data from the U.K. painted a mixed picture of the economy.

The U.K. unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4 percent from 4.3 percent in the three months to April, the highest rate since September 2021 but wage growth jumped to 5.9 percent, raising concerns that higher wages can feed into consumer prices and potentially stall the central bank's progress with inflation.

The pan European STOXX 600 slipped 0.1 percent to 521.53 after falling 0.3 percent on Monday.

The German DAX was marginally lower and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 dropped half a percent while France's CAC 40 traded flat with a positive bias.

The euro was little changed, after having hit a one-month low the day before following French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to call a snap national election due to a strong showing for far-right parties in the European Parliament elections.

French bonds stabilized after yields on the country's 10-year debt reached their highest level this year on Monday.

In corporate news, Rio Tinto fell 2.2 percent after the mining giant agreed to acquire Mitsubishi Corp's 11.65 percent stake in Boyne Smelters for an undisclosed sum.

Transport operator FirstGroup declined 1.2 percent after reporting a fall in annual revenue.

Senior Plc., an international manufacturer of high-tech components, rallied 2.2 percent after securing various long-term production contracts from Collins Aerospace.

Societe Generale shares dipped 0.7 percent to extend losses from the previous session after reports that the French lender is facing hurdles in selling its securities services unit.

Ipsen gained half a percent after receiving accelerated approval from FDA for a liver disease drug.

Atos SE, an information technology service and consulting company, slumped nearly 11 percent.

The company announced that between the two proposals received on its financial restructuring, it chose Onepoint consortium consisting of Onepoint, Butler Industries and Econocom, and a group of some of the company's financial creditors.