Europe close: Weak US consumer confidence knocks stocks off their perch

Stocks surrendered early gains on Wednesday, finishing on a mixed note following the release of weaker than expected data for US consumer confidence.

Late in the afternoon, the US conference Board revealed a drop in its consumer confidence index from a reading of 91.7 for July to 84.8 (Barclays: 92.0).

That more than offset positive headlines out overnight from the biannual phase-one trade deal review between Beijing and Washington.

"If the two powers can get past the various issues that have arisen of late and keep moving forward with trade negotiations then markets are likely to take a broadly positive view of the situation," was IG chief market analyst, Chris Beauchamp's take on matters.

By the end of trading, the pan-European Stoxx 600 was down by 0.30% at 369.75, alongside a 0.04% dip for the German Dax to 13,061.62, while the FTSE Mibtel fell 0.41% to 20,030.05.

Travel and Leisure issues paced gains on the Stoxx 600, with a sub-index for the sector ending the session up by 1.43% at 178.3, helped by gains for shares of Accor, IAG and InterContinental Hotels Group.

In related sector news, FinnAir and Qantas were both higher even after announcing plans for redundancies.

Germany reported 1,628 new Covid-19 infections on Tuesday, a close to four-month high.

Lawmakers in Berlin were set to discuss a possible extension of job-protection subsidies in the evening.

Technology issues also advanced but lenders fully reversed an earlier advance to end down by 0.18%.

On the economic side of things, Tuesday's batch of reports was mixed.

According to the IFO Institute, German business confidence rose by more than expected in August, with its closely-followed gauge rising from 90.4 for July to 92.6 in August.

But some economists pointed to the smaller improvement this time around in firms' assessment of their expectations, saying that momentum was fading.

Separately, the country's Federal Office of Statistics revised its reading on gross domestic product growth for the three months to June from a quarter-on-quarter fall of -10.1% to -9.7%.