Europe open: Stocks edge higher with spotlight on Fed minutes, German Socialists
Stocks have begun the morning little changed despite the strong gains overnight on Wall Street, with traders waiting for the release of the minutes of the US Federal Reserve's last rate-setting meeting in the evening and monitoring the news-flow out of Germany.
As of 0915 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was edging up by 0.04% or 0.17 points to 388.27, alongside a rise of 0.17% or 37.43 points to 22,363.87 on the FTSE Mibtel and a gain of 0.57% or 57.10 points to 10,050.50 for the Ibex 35.
The German Dax on the other hand was taking a breather, giving back 0.21% or 27.59 points to 13,140.37.
Acting as a backdrop, overnight the outgoing Fed chief, Janet Yellen cautioned that tightening monetary policy too fast could strand inflation below the central bank's 2% target.
On that note, Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank on Wednesday pointed out to clients how the interest rate spread between two and 10-yaer US government Treasury notes had fallen below 60 basis points the day before, for the first time in a decade.
"Staying with the Fed, our economists put out a piece last night suggesting that in recent weeks, many Fed officials have raised the possibility of re-considering the Fed's current policy framework of targeting a 2% inflation rate. Today’s minutes could provide further indications that this is becoming a lively debate among Fed officials.
"Given the breadth and the increase in the intensity of this discussion, our guys think markets should take note and they go through the pros and cons of all the possible alternatives to the 2% inflation target," said Reid.
Back in Europe, analysts were speculating that mounting public pressure on the country's Socialist SPD party to row back on their aversion to a grand coalition might finally bring into the mainstream fold.
However, the price the German economy might have to pay for that, in the form of concessions to the SPD, might be "high" and "not necessarily good for the economy", said Berenberg's chief economist Holger Schmieding.
Economic data was again light on the ground on the Continent, with the main release on Wednesday being a reading on Dutch consumer confidence for November.
According to the country's Central Bureau of Statistics, that gauge printed at 23.0 for November, the same as over the prior two months.
Stateside, US durable goods orders for October were set for release at 1330 GMT, alongside the latest weekly jobless claims figures followed by the University of Michigan's final reading on consumer sentiment for the month of November at 1500 GMT.
Later in the day, the minutes of the US central bank's last policy meeting were due to be published at 1900 GMT.