BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French stocks fell notably on Wednesday as growth worries overshadowed investor optimism over a temporary U.S.-China tariff truce.
A slew of Chinese economic data surprised to the downside in July while Germany's economy contracted in the second quarter as weaker global growth and trade wars dampened foreign demand for goods produced in the largest euro area economy.
Closer home, France's unemployment rate eased further in the second quarter to reach its lowest level in over a decade, preliminary data from the statistical office INSEE showed.
The ILO jobless rate for metropolitan France dropped to 8.2 percent from 8.4 percent in the first quarter. The rate was the lowest since the first three months of 2009, when it was the same.
The benchmark CAC 40 was down 35 points or 0.65 percent at 5,328 after climbing 1 percent on Tuesday.
Banks paced the declines, with BNP Paribas declining 1.5 percent and Societe Generale losing 2.4 percent.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX