European Markets Finished Mixed After Early Gains Erode

(RTTNews) - The European markets got off to a positive start Wednesday as geopolitical tensions began to relax. However, concerns over the political situation in France soured the mood among investors. Early gains quickly began to erode and the markets finished the day with mixed results. A new poll showed that far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon's support increased by 7 percentage points in the French presidential race.

Investors are also keeping an eye out for developments as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The U.S. is expected to continue to push for Russia to abandon its support for Syrian President Assad. Meanwhile, Russia hasn't been shy about voicing its displeasure with the U.S. military action taken against a Syrian airbase late last week.

The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index advanced 0.22 percent. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks decreased 0.04 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, added 0.15 percent.

The DAX of Germany climbed 0.13 percent, but the CAC 40 of France fell 0.01 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. declined 0.22 percent, but the SMI of Switzerland finished higher by 0.26 percent.

In Frankfurt, Daimler advanced 0.56 percent. The maker of Mercedes-Benz cars reported higher than expected first-quarter earnings, boosted by one-off gains and strong performance of its new Mercedes-Benz E-Class brand.

Puma soared 9.05 percent. The sporting goods firm raised its 2017 earnings forecast after reporting a 70 percent jump in first-quarter earnings.

Dialog Semiconductor fell 1.63 percent to extend Tuesday's losses after an analyst warned that its biggest client Apple could move business away from the firm.

In London, Tesco tumbled 5.73 percent despite reporting better-than-expected annual earnings.

BHP Billiton declined 3.54 percent after the mining giant dismissed a minor shareholder's proposal to overhaul its corporate structure and spin off its U.S. oil division.

The rest of the mining sector was also under pressure Wednesday. Rio Tinto dropped 4.01 percent and Anglo American fell 3.90 percent. Antofagasta weakened by 2.83 percent and Glencore surrendered 3.25 percent.

Germany's wholesale price inflation eased for the first time in five months in March, data from Destatis showed Wednesday.

Wholesale prices rose 4.7 percent year-over-year in March, slower than the 5.0 percent climb in February, which was the highest rate of increase since August 2011. The measure has been rising since October 2016.

The UK unemployment rate remained unchanged at the lowest level seen since 1975 amid weak earnings growth, official data showed Wednesday. The ILO jobless rate held steady at 4.7 percent in three months to February, the Office for National Statistics reported. It has not been lower since June to August 1975.

China's inflation rose marginally on non-food prices in March, while factory gate inflation moderated as commodity prices weakened notably.

Inflation rose to 0.9 percent in March from 0.8 percent in February, data published by the National Bureau of Statistics showed Wednesday. Nonetheless, this was slightly slower than the expected 1 percent.

Another report from NBS showed that producer price inflation eased to 7.6 percent in March from 7.8 percent a month ago. Economists had forecast the annual rate to slow to 7.5 percent. The 7.8 percent increase seen in February was the fastest since 2008.

Reflecting a steep drop in fuel prices, the Labor Department released a report on Wednesday showing an unexpected decline in U.S. import prices in the month of March.

The Labor Department said import prices dipped by 0.2 percent in March after climbing by a revised 0.4 percent in February. The decrease came as a surprise to economists, who had expected import prices to inch up by 0.1 percent compared to the 0.2 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

The report also said export prices rose by 0.2 percent in March following a 0.3 percent increase in February. Export prices had been expected to tick up by 0.1 percent.