The major European markets are declining on Wednesday, with the French CAC 40 Index and theGerman DAX Index are moving down 0.53% and 0.21%, respectively, while the U.K.’s FTSE 100Index is receding 0.28%.On the economic front, German GfK Institute reported that German consumer sentiment index-a forward - looking indicator, stood unchanged at 3.5 in July. Economists had expected the index to decline to 3.3. The income expectations index recorded a significant drop for the second month in a row in June, falling to 8.2, 15.5 points lower than in May. After four consecutive declines, the index measuring propensity to buy climbed 12.3 points to 30.4 points, marking the highest value since September 2009.
Meanwhile, French statistical office INSEE said its indicator measuring sentiment among manufacturers declined to 95 in June from 97 in May. Economists had expected the index to decline to 96.
The manufacturing purchasing managers’ indexes released from the euro area showed a slackening in the pace of expansion in the manufacturing sector. The French manufacturing PMI fell to 54.9 in June from 55.8 in March, while the German manufacturing PMI dropped to a 4 month-low of 58.1.
U.S. Economic ReportsThe Commerce Department is due to release its new home sales report for May at 10 AM ET. The consensus estimate calls for a decline in new homes sales to an annual rate of 430,000.
New home sales rose 14.8% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 504,000 in April, marking their highest level since May 2008. Inventories measured in terms of months of supply fell to 5 months from the month-ago's 6.2 months. However, the median price of a new house fell 9.7% month-over-month and was down 9.5% year-over-year to $198,400, its lowest level since December 2003.
The Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its weekly petroleum inventory report for the week ended June 18th at 10:30 AM ET.
The oil inventory report for the week ended June 11th showed that crude oil inventories rose by 1.7 million barrels to 363.1 million. Inventories were above the upper limit of the average range.
Distillate stockpiles increased by 1.8 million barrels, remaining above the upper boundary of the average range of the year. On the other hand, gasoline stockpiles slipped by 0.6 million barrels and were above the upper limit of the average range. Refinery capacity utilization averaged 87.9% over the four-weeks ended June 11th compared to 89.1% in the previous week.
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