Europe midday: Stocks dip as euro retreats on the back of rising bond yields in US

Stocks are little changed at the start of the week, albeit off their lows of the session, boosted by a retreat in the single currency and after key economic survey results revealed growth was continuing apace in the Eurozone.

In the background meanwhile, investors were carefully monitoring government bond and commodity markets following the sharp moves seen at the end of the prior week, which had weighed on stocks.

Commenting on the above, Michael Hewson at CMC Markets UK mused: "The recovery in European markets continued last week the fourth successive weekly gain and while the FTSE100 closed on its highs, there were some signs that markets in Europe were starting to look a little tired, with the DAX and Eurostoxx 50 unable for now to push up beyond their 200-day MA's.

As of 1207 BST the benchmark Stoxx 600 was down by 0.13% or 0.50 points to 381.34, alongside a dip of 0.17% or 21.58 points for the German Dax to 12,519.33, while the FTSE Mibtel was little changed at up by 0.01% or 2.85 points to 23,832.60.

In parallel, the yield on the benchmark 10-year German bund was gaining three basis points to 0.62%, while that on similarly-dated US Treasuries had come within a whisker of 3% earlier in the session.

Offsetting those moves in the fixed income space, according to perhaps the most closely-followed survey of conditions in the bloc's factory and services sectors, IHS Markit's manufacturing and services sector purchasing managers' index, the slowdown in euro area economic growth appeared to stop in April.

IHS Markit's 'composite' PMI, which combines readings for both sectors, was unchanged in April versus the month before, printing at 55.2, although that had been the slowest pace since the beginning of 2017.

"Growth has downshifted markedly since the peak at the start of the year, but importantly still remains robust," IHS Markit's Chris Williamson said.

Nevertheless, ahead of the ECB's policy decision on the following Thursday, some analysts said they were more interested in the price gauges contained in the report, which in this instance showed input costs rising by the least since seven months.

For later in the session, Markit's US services sector purchasing managers' index for April was set for release 1330 BST, followed by a reading on existing home sales in March at 1500 BST.

Meanwhile, in corporate news, German healthcare group Fresenius SE pulled out of its $4.3bn bid to acquire US generic cancer drugs maker Akorn after detecting "material breaches" of FDA standards.