A spate of downbeat US data has pushed Wall Street lower in early trading and taken the shine - unimpressive though it was - off European markets.
The Chicago purchasing managers index for May fell to 52.7 from 56.2 the previous month, and below expectations of 56.5p. Earlier US GDP grew by an annualised 1.9%, compared to earlier estimates of a 2.2% rise. On top of that, initial jobless claims rose by 10,000 to seasonally adjusted 383,000 last week while the ADP private payrolls figure showed US companies added 133,000 workers in May, lower than the 150,000 expected.
The figures come ahead of the US non-farm payroll number on Friday, and James Knightley at ING Bank said:
[The ADP] report is generally viewed as being the best single indicator for the private payrolls growth figure we get in tomorrow's labour report so it may lead to a modest downward revision to market expectations. But in all probability the consensus for tomorrow's headline non-farm payrolls figure is likely to stay close to the current 150,000 expectation.
After this latest data the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down around 50 points while the FTSE 100 is now virtually flat, with all its early gains erased. French and Germarn markets have also edged lower.
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