Europe close: Stocks end mixed ahead of Fed, ECB meetings

European stocks ended on a mixed note ahead of interest rate announcements from the US central bank and European Central Bank scheduled for over the next two days and after US data showed consumer prices reached a six-year high in May.

In particular, investors were treading cautiously due to the risk that rate-setters in the US might nudge their forecasts for further interest rate hikes over the remainder of the year higher.

Acting as a backdrop, investors looked past the agreement reached overnight between the leaders of North Korea and the US and more weak data out of Germany, with analysts at analysts at Rabobank telling clients that: "The signed document can at best be seen as a declaration of intent and therefore lacks strength."

In terms of the implications, the Dutch broker adds that Pyongyang can now play off the US against China.

According to analyst Jan Lambregts, the post-summit press conference also pointed to a desire by the Trump administration to lower reduce its security commitment towards the Korean peninsula.

Against that backdrop, by the close of markets the benchmark Stoxx 600 was off by 0.11% or 0.41 points to 387.53, albeit alongside an advance of 0.15% or 33.56 points to 22,119.76 for the FTSE Mibtel.

Germany's Dax meanwhile was almost unchanged, retreating by just 0.61 points to 12,842.30, while Spain's Ibex 35 added 0.16% to finish at 9,914.40.

Jefferies on the other hand was a tad more upbeat on the news out of Asia, saying: "The much anticipated 'denuclearization plan' was always going to be a much more difficult starting point for negotiations.

"In this respect, we think future talks are likely to follow the path of the Reagan-Gorbachev's summits in the 1980s as both sides tried diplomatically to end the nuclear arms race. It took over two years and many rounds of meetings to get a treaty signed."

Meanwhile, the ZEW institute's economic sentiment index for Germany retreated from a reading of -8.2 for May to -16.1 in June (consensus: -14.0), versus its long-term average reading of 23.3 points.

The institute cited the "recent escalation" in trade frictions with the US, "fears" around the new government in Rome and weaker figures on export orders in Germany as the key factors bearing down on the expectations of both analysts and investors.

In other data, INSEE revised down its reading on French non-farm payrolls for the first three months of the year from a quarter-on-quarter increase of 0.3% to 0.2%.

Meanwhile, on the corporate front, shares of Heidelberger Drucksmaschinen ended sharply lower after the company posted a reduction in its full year profits from €36.0m to €14m on the back of write-downs of its deferred tax assets in the wake of recent US tax cuts.

Elsewhere, on Monday the German Transport Ministry said it had found unauthorised software defeat devices in 774,000 Mercedes-Benz cars.

Stock in French grocer Casino on the other hand was trading higher after the company said it was aiming to complete €1.5bn-worth of asset sales by the beginning of 2019 in order to reduce its debt pile.