By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch

European stocks drifted lower on Thursday, after indications that the Federal Reserve last month wasn't aggressively looking to cut interest rates.

Down 2.6% for August heading into the day, the Stoxx Europe 600 weakened 0.26% to 374.81.

The German DAX dropped 0.18% to 11781.29, the French CAC 40 fell 0.31% to 5418.68 and the U.K. FTSE 100 fell 0.3% to 7182.04,

Minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's last meeting, released after European stock markets had closed on Wednesday, showed the central bankers (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-officials-shied-away-in-july-from-planning-future-interest-rate-cuts-2019-08-21) generally favored an approach "that avoided any appearance of following a preset course." Traders will now look to the key Jackson Hole conference and the speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday for interest-rate direction from the world's largest economy.

After a 240-point surge for the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wednesday, U.S. stock futures showed little movement.

In Europe, IHS Markit reported that flash French manufacturing PMI reached a 2-month high and that services PMI rose to a 9-month high in August, while German manufacturing PMI inched up to a 2-month high, with services PMI falling to a 7-month low.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 22, 2019 03:35 ET (07:35 GMT)

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