European stocks decline in early trading after the ECB unexpectedly cancelled the acceptance of Greek bonds in return for funding forcing the Greek central bank to provide billions of emergency liquidity for banks in the weeks to come.

Today data on German Factory orders for December came in at +4.2%, largely higher than the expected 1.5% with a reading of -2.4% in the previous month.

The Halifax House Price Index for January rose by +2.0%, beating forecasts of a slight increase of +0.2%. In the three months to January the index rose by +8.5%, higher than the +7.8% predicted by economists.

Markets await the BoE Interest Rate decision, Asset Purchase Facility and the MPC Rate Statement at 12:00 GMT. Later in the day the focus will be in U.S. Initial Jobless Claims scheduled for 13:30GMT.

The commodity heavy FTSE 100 index is currently trading -0.42% quoted at 6,831.34 points weighed by energy and mining stocks. Germany's DAX 30 declined by -0.16% trading at 10,894.22. France's CAC 40 lost -0.44%, currently trading at 4,675.87 points.