European stock markets retreated Wednesday, as investors digested worsening economic conditions ahead of next week’s key central bank meetings.

At 03:30 ET (07:30 GMT), the DAX index in Germany traded 0.3% lower, the CAC 40 in France fell 0.3% and the FTSE 100 in the U.K. dropped 0.2%.

German industrial production rose just 0.3% on the month in April, an improvement from the previous month’s revised 2.1% slump, but below the expected increase of 0.6% as Europe’s largest economy struggles to recover from its winter recession.

Yet, despite this weakness in the eurozone’s main growth driver, the European Central Bank is widely seen as continuing its rate-hiking cycle next week. 

Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel stated in an interview with De Tijd newspaper, published Wednesday, that “we have more ground to cover,” and “it will depend on the incoming data by how much more rates will have to increase.”

There are a number of ECB officials speaking Wednesday, and investors will be looking to see how popular these hawkish comments are.

Data released earlier Wednesday pointed to a weak recovery in China, Asia’s largest economy and a major trading market for Europe’s largest companies.

China’s trade balance fell to a surplus of $65.8 billion in May, its lowest level since April 2022, when COVID shut down many markets around the globe. This drop was largely driven by a bigger-than-expected 7.5% decline in exports in May from the same period last year, although imports also fell 4.5%.

In corporate news, Diageo (LON:DGE) stock fell 0.6% after the world’s largest spirits company announced that CEO Ivan Menezes had passed away following a brief illness.

Danske Bank (CSE:DANSKE) stock rose just under 5% after Denmark’s largest lender raised its long-term earnings target and announced plans to divest its Norwegian retail business.

Oil prices retreated Wednesday after the weak Chinese trade data increased concerns about a slowdown in the country’s post-COVID economic recovery, undermining expectations that the world’s largest crude importer will drive oil demand to record highs this year.

Industry data released late Tuesday showed that U.S. crude inventories shrank more than expected last week, but an unexpected build in gasoline stocks hit sentiment in the middle of the U.S. driving season.

By 03:30 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.7% lower at $71.22 a barrel, while the Brent contract dropped 0.8% to $75.70. 

These benchmarks have now reversed all the gains made earlier this week on the surprise announcement of additional supply cuts by Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the OPEC cartel.

Additionally, gold futures fell 0.4% to $1,972.80/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% lower at 1.0680.