European indices continued to weaken on mixed PMI data from France and Germany. Frances Manufacturing PMI for December declined to 47.9 not meeting expectations. Analyst's forecasted 48.7. The Services PMI was better-than expected, reading 49.8, beating estimates by 1.2. Germany's Manufacturing PMI beat estimates by 0.8 with a reading of 51.2 whereas the Services PMI declined to 51.4 from previous 52.1. Forecasters predicted an increase to 52.6. The Manufacturing PMI for the Eurozone beat estimates by 0.3 with a reading of 50.8. The Services PMI added 0.7 to 50.8. Analysts predicted the index to rise by only 0.4. Weaker PMI data from China also weighed on the markets fuelling fears of an economic cool down.
Markets await the speech of BoE Governor Carney taking place at 09:00 GMT, U.K.'s PPI and HICP data and Eurozone's and Germany's ZEW Economic Sentiment at 10:00 GMT.
The FTSE 100 index is currently trading -0.41% quoted at 6,157.17 points, Germany's DAX 30 lost -0.79% trading at 9,260.09. France's CAC 40 declined by --0.67%, currently trading at 3,978.71 points.