European stocks pare 13-month high with Fed decisions in focus

European stocks fell in early trading on Wednesday, on profit-taking from the 13-month high hit yesterday, amid risk-off sentiment ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s decisions.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.25% as of 10:45 GMT, after closing higher yesterday and hit the highest since February 2020 at 427 points following record gains in Wall Street.

The mining sector saw the largest losses in Europe today, falling 1.5%, as most metals and commodity prices fell today.

S&P 500 futures fell 0.2% ahead of Wall Street opening after the index closed lower by 0.2% yesterday on profit-taking from its record high at 3,981.04 points.

The Fed is issuing its decisions and guidance today, presenting strong evidence on inflation, growth forecasts for the US, amid expectations for interest rates to be held at 0.25% unchanged.

At 18:00 GMT, the Fed will unveil its monetary policy statement and economic outlook, and Chairman Jerome Powell will deliver a speech at 18:30 GMT.

This meeting will address the latest developments in the US bond market, after the 10-year US Treasury yields to a 13-month high of 1.646%.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 0.2%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.2%, Germany DAX index fell 0.1%, and the UK's FTSE 100 fell 0.4%.