LONDON (ShareCast) - Europe's leading exchanges are still lower in midday trade as investors concentrate on the day's economic news.
The European Central Bank has left its key lending rate unchanged at 1%, in line with expectations.
President Jean-Claude Trichet is due to speak at a news conference later this afternoon.
In other economic news, unemployment in the eurozone rose to a 10-year high of 9.5% in May from 9.3% in the previous month as another 273,000 people lost their jobs in the period.
"Although there are mounting signs that the rate of economic contraction across the Eurozone has moderated substantially since the first quarter and business confidence has risen from the record low levels widely seen in March, this is unlikely to prevent unemployment from rising markedly higher," said Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight.
Producer prices in the 16-country zone fell 0.2% month-on-month in May and 5.8% on the year.
Investors will also look out for the all important US non-farm payroll figures due out later today.
Across the markets, the German DAX is down 82 points at 4,822 with the French CAC falling 33 points to 3,183. The Swiss market has dropped 28 points to 5,443.
Energy firms are among the main fallers after oil prices backtracked on Wednesday. Royal Dutch Shell (Amsterdam: RDSA.AS - news) , Eni (Milan: ENI.MI - news) and Total are all lower.
CAC 40 (Paris: news) - Risers
Credit Agricole (Paris: FR0000045072 - news) (ACA) € 9.28 +1.94%
Alstom (ALO) € 43.44 +1.37%
Sanofi (Paris: FR0000120578 - news) -Aventis (SAN) € 43.53 +0.90%
Vivendi (Paris: FR0000127771 - news) (VIV) € 17.19 +0.79%
Essilor International (EI) € 35.89 +0.45%
Carrefour (CA) € 32.22 +0.22%
Pernod Ricard (Paris: FR0000120693 - news) (RI) € 46.47 +0.01%
CAC 40 - Fallers
Michelin (Paris: FR0000121261 - news) (ML) € 39.85 -3.74%
AXA (CS) € 13.24 -3.71%
Peugeot (Paris: FR0000121501 - news) (UG) € 18.49 -3.14%
Renault (RNO) € 26.06 -2.92%
Air France (Paris: FR0000031122 - news) -KLM (AF (Stockholm: 45674.ST - news) ) € 8.94 -2.88%
Cap Gemini (Paris: FR0000125338 - news) (CAP) € 25.95 -2.84%
Saint Gobain (Paris: FR0000125007 - news) (SGO) € 24.13 -2.56%
Societe Generale (Paris: FR0000130809 - news) (GLE) € 38.33 -2.42%
Vinci (Paris: FR0000125486 - news) (DG) € 32.21 -2.26%
EADS (Paris: NL0000235190 - news) (EAD) € 11.66 -2.22%
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