Europe midday: Selling in stocks accelerates as euro gains altitude
Selling is picking up moderately in European stocks as the single currency continues to regain some altitude on the back of a surprisingly strong reading on Germany's third quarter gross domestic product, alongside another burst of weaker-than-forecast Chinese economic data.
As of 1319 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was 0.48% or 1.84 points lower at 384.29, alongside a 0.22% or 28.95 point dip for the German Dax to 13,044.72 while the Cac-40 was slipping 0.40% or 21.13 points to 5,320.71.
Just as on Monday, Basic Resources was again the weak link in the chain following in the wake of the latest round of Chinese numbers, which showed industrial production and retail sales both slowing by more than had been anticipated in October.
The Stoxx 600's sub-index for Basic Resources was 1.51% lower to 441.34.
In parallel, euro-dollar was moving higher by 0.76% to 1.1754.
Commenting on the price action in markets, Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, said: "It's been a mixed start to trading again on Tuesday and US futures are pointing to similar moves ahead of the open, a sign that markets are starting to look a little overextended.
"The rally in equity markets has been very gradual and relatively uninterrupted over the last couple of months, leading many to question whether a correction of some kind is both warranted and healthy. Despite another strong earnings season, the rally has stalled which suggest we may now be a levels again that investors can’t justify going far above, which may leave them susceptible to a pull back, even one that isn’t particularly large."
On the economic front, Eurostat confirmed that gross domestic product in the single currency bloc expanded at a quarterly pace of 0.6%, as Germany's economy accelerated to a quarter-on-quarter pace of 0.8% (consensus: 0.6%), up from a 0.6% clip over the prior three months.
Net foreign trade and gross fixed capital formation both made positive contributions to the quarterly rates of growth in the euro area's largest economy, according to the German Ministry of Finance.
In parallel, the ZEW institute's economic sentiment index for Germany edged higher by 1.1 points to 18.7 (consensus: 19.8).
Economic expansions in Italy and Portugal also picked up steam with the rate of GDP growth for both rising from 0.3% in the second quarter to 0.5% for the third.
Later in the day, US factory gate figures for October were scheduled for release at 1330 GMT, followed by a speech from Atlanta Fed chief Raphael Bostic at 1905 GMT.