The pan-European Stoxx 600 slid 0.1% below the flatline in early trade, with autos adding 0.8% while basic resources slid 0.8%.
Investors in Europe are awaiting the ECB’s latest interest rate decision as well as monetary policy statement at around 12:45 p.m. London time. Market watchers believe the central bank could fine-tune its policies this week, and may even follow the Federal Reserve by revising its inflation targets in the longer term.
Since its last meeting, economic data has shown signs of a slowing of the recovery, the euro has appreciated and core inflation slumped to a new record low in August.
Meanwhile, stocks in Asia-Pacific traded higher Thursday morning following an overnight bounce for shares stateside.
Global markets are also looking ahead to the U.S. Labor Department’s weekly jobless claims report later today. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect 850,000 new claims, down from last week’s 881,000.
Insurance marketplace Lloyd’s of London on Thursday posted a first-half pre-tax loss of £400 million ($520.08 million) on the back of £2.4 billion in Covid-19 payouts so far this year.
Games Workshop shares rallied more than 17% in early trade after an upbeat three-month trading update, while at the other end of the European blue-chip index, supermarket chain WM Morrison slid 4.5% after reporting a 25.3% fall in first-half profit.