EUROPE Stocks trade lower on GDP data with eyes central bank meetings

European stock markets were lower on Tuesday, 31 January 2023, as risk-off sentiment amid weaker than expected euro zone GDP data and on caution ahead of this week's rate decision from the US Fed, Bank of England and European Central Bank.

At 12:25 GMT, the pan European Stoxx 600 index was down 0.8% to 450.79. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index fell 0.8% to 7,723.96. France's CAC40 index declined 0.46% to 7,049.79. Germany's DAX index dropped 0.52% to 15,046.91. Switzerland's Swiss Market index shed 1.02% to 11,264.05.

The U.S. Federal Reserve will reveal the outcome of its policy meeting Wednesday, while the Bank of England and European Central Bank is slated to announce its policy gathering results on Thursday. Investors will be looking for clues about how much higher the central bank will take rates in the fight against inflation. The market is widely expecting a 25-basis point interest rate hike to bring the Fed funds rates to 4.5% to 4.75%.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Preliminary Eurostat data released Tuesday showed that the euro zone grew 0.1% in the fourth quarter. The latest figures come after the euro area posted a 0.3% GDP increase for the third quarter of last year. The biggest European economy Germany economy contracted by 0.2% in the last quarter of 2022. Italy, the region's third largest economy, also reported negative growth down by 0.1% in the fourth quarter.

German Import Price Inflations Slows To 12.6% In December- Germany's import price inflation eased less-than-expected in December to the lowest level in just over one-and-a-half years amid a continued slowdown in the energy prices, data published by Destatis revealed on Tuesday. Import prices logged a double-digit annual growth of 12.6% in December, slower than the 14.5% surge in November. This was the slowest rate of growth since May 2021, when prices had risen 11.8%. On a monthly basis, import prices dropped at a slower pace of 1.6% in December, after a 4.5% fall in November. This was the fourth successive monthly decline. The overall strong inflation in December was still largely driven by a 34.1% price increase for imported energy. Import prices for natural gas remain the main reason for the higher energy prices over the last year. Excluding energy prices, import prices were 8.2% higher than in December 2021, while they fell 0.7% from a month ago. In 2022, overall import price inflation stood at 26.3%, which was the strongest annual increase since 1974, when prices had grown 28.7%. Export price inflation also slowed to 10.6% in December from 11.6% in November. Month-on-month, export prices edged up 0.1%, reversing a 0.5% fall.

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