BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks recovered from an early slide to trade slightly higher on Wednesday as investors looked ahead to a meeting between the American and Chinese presidents at the G20 summit this weekend for directional cues.
The U.S. dollar recovered from recent lows after Federal Reserve officials dented hopes for a big interest rate cut.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell pushed back against pressure from President Trump to cut interest rates, saying that monetary policy should not overreact to any individual data point or short-term swing in sentiment.
Separately, well-known Fed dove Bullard said that a 50 bps rate cut in July would be too much.
The pan European Stoxx 600 was up 0.1 percent at 383.90 after declining 0.1 percent on Wednesday.
The German DAX was rising 0.6 percent, France's CAC 40 index was moving up 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 0.1 percent.
Technology stocks were moving higher after Micron Technology Inc expressed optimism that good demand for DRAM will return to healthy year-over-year growth in the second half of calendar 2019. Siltronic jumped over 5 percent and Dialogue Semiconductor rose half a percent.
German industrial conglomerate Thyssenkrupp soared 7 percent on reports of a possible offer from Kone for its elevator business.
Energy stocks were broadly higher as oil prices jumped nearly 2 percent in the face of worries about U.S.-Iran relations and on data showing a large crude oil inventory draw.
Wood Group (John) shares jumped 5.5 percent. The British engineering and oilfield services provider said its performance in the first half was better than a year earlier.
Distribution and outsourcing Group Bunzl fell over 1 percent. The company said its first-half group revenue is expected to have increased by approximately 4 percent.
In economic releases, Germany's consumer confidence is set to fall in July as income expectations suffer significant setbacks, survey data from market research group GfK showed.
The forward-looking consumer sentiment index dropped to 9.8 in July from 10.1 in June. The score was forecast to fall marginally to 10.0.
U.K. employers' confidence on the economy and their hiring and investment intentions improved since the extension of the Brexit deadline, according to a survey published today.
Employers' confidence in making hiring and investment decisions improved with the index rising 4 percentage points to positive 1, the JobsOutlook survey from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation showed.
French consumer confidence rose to a 14-month high in June, survey data from the statistical office Insee showed.
The consumer sentiment index climbed to 101 in June from 99 in May. The score was forecast to rise marginally to its long-term average of 100.
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