Europe midday: Shares dip despite possibility Parliament may bin 'no deal' option
Stocks on the Continent are trading slightly lower as investors wait on a key speech by the head of the US central bank, despite apparent progress in avoiding a so-called 'no deal' Brexit.
It was expected that US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell would be grilled in his testimony before the US Senate's Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs about rate-setters' 'about face' and on the outlook for monetary policy going forwards.
As of 1217 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was down by 0.12% to 371.72, alongside a drop of 0.26% to 11,475.57 for the German Dax and a decline of 0.11% to 20,414.44 on the FTSE Mibtel.
In parallel, Sterling was jumping by 0.82% to 1.1625 following reports that the Prime Minister might be open to delaying the date of Britain's exit from the European Union in a bid to avoid the risk of a 'hard Brexit'.
Critically perhaps, overnight the head of the Britain's Labor party, Jeremy Corbyn, appeared to open the door to the possibility of a second referendum.
Commenting on the news-flow around the UK's withdrawal process, IG's Chris Beauchamp said: "‘No deal’ seems, finally, to have been pushed off the table, and while we can debate the merits of this for the UK’s negotiating position, it does at least remove this huge element of uncertainty. Markets and businesses can be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief this morning."
What economic news there was to be had on the Continent come Tuesday appeared to be positive.
In particular, INSEE reported that its French consumer climate gauge rose from a reading of 92.0 for January to 95.0 in February (consensus: 92.0), amid a sharp improvement in expectations for the jobs market.
An equivalent gauge for Germany compiled by GfK printed at 10.8, unchanged from the month before (consensus: 10.8), as expected.
The details of the GfK gauge were "soft", according to Pantheon Macroeconomics's Claus Vistesen, but "the survey as a whole continues to signal a rebound in consumers’ spending growth in coming quarters."
Still ahead on the economic calendar was Powell's speech at 1500 GMT followed by Theresa May's statement to Parliament, after the close of markets.