European stocks close: stocks traded higher amid the Federal Reserve’s interest decision

Stock indices traded higher amid the Federal Reserve’s interest decision on Wednesday. The mixed U.S. economic data weighed on stock markets. The consumer price index in the U.S. rose 0.4% in May. But there is a weakness in the U.S. housing sector. The U.S. housing starts declined by 6.5% to a seasonally adjusted 1.001 million units in May. The number of building permits in the U.S. fell by 6.4% to a seasonally adjusted 991,000 units in May.

The violence in Iraq also weighed on stock markets.

The ZEW Centre for Economic Research released its index for Germany and the Eurozone. The German economic sentiment dropped by 3.3 points to 29.8 in June from 33.1 in May. Analysts had expected an increase by 1.9 points to 35.0.

Eurozone’s ZEW economic sentiment climbed to 58.4 in June from 55.2 in May, missing expectations for a gain to 59.6.

The annual rate of inflation in the U.K. declined 1.5% in May, after 1.8% in April. That was the lowest level since October 2009.

Indexes on the close:

Name                                   Price                                    Change                 Change %

FTSE 100                              6,766.77                              +12.13                       +0.18%

DAX                                      9,920.32                               +36.34                       +0.37%

CAC 40                                 4,536.07                               +26.02                       +0.58%