European Stocks Mixed, Currencies Dominate Ahead of US Inflation Data

Franfurt (Jan 1)  European stocks were mixed in early Wednesday trading, with modest gains for the major benchmarks but an overall decline for regional equities as the U.S. dollar pullback continues to dominate global financial market trading.

Britain's FTSE 100 index clawed back some of Tuesday's 106 point decline, the biggest since the June 23 Brexit vote, with a 10 point gain despite a massive 25% fall in educational publisher Pearson plc (PSON) and softer prices for U.K.-centric firms.

Pearson shares fell more than 25% in early London trading to change hands at 599 pence each, the lowest since July 2009, by 08:30 GMT after the group said underlying profitability in 2017 would be £180 million ($222 million) lower than the previous year and that this would clip full-year adjusted earnings per share to 48.5 pence from a previous guidance of 55.5 pence per share.

Germany's DAX index was little-changed by 09:00 GMT, rising around 2.9 points despite a 0.74% fall in Deutsche Bank (DB) shares, which fell after the country's biggest lender finalized its $7.2 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.
The region-wide Stoxx Europe 600 index slipped around 0.09% to 362.09 points by 09:00 GMT.

In currency markets, the pound reversed some of Tuesday's gains -- which included the biggest single-day advance in more than two decades - to fall by around 0.8% against the U.S. dollar to change hands at 1.2316. Tuesday's surge, of course, followed a speech from U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May that set out the country's aim to make a definitive break from both the European Union and the single market but, at the same time, vowed to allow lawmakers to vote on any final deal agreed with Britain's former economic partners.

Source: TheStreet