EUROPE MARKETS: European Stocks Edge Down As ECB Decision Looms

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks slipped Thursday as investors waited to find out whether the European Central Bank will pump more liquidity into the flagging euro-zone economy.

The Stoxx Europe 600 shed 0.1% to 344.49.

Investors will watch for what the ECB will do next as the euro zone battles low inflation and sluggish economic growth. There's been speculation that ECB President Mario Draghi and his colleagues will launch full-scale quantitative easing, but other options are available, such as a "private QE" program, say economists.

The ECB policy statement is due at 12:45 p.m. London time, or 7:45 a.m. Eastern Time. Draghi will hold a news conference at 1:30 p.m.

Among movers on the Stoxx Europe 600, Bilfinger SE shares were the worst performers, falling 10% after the German construction and services company issued a warning on profit for the third time in three months.

Standard Life headed advancers on the benchmark, surging 10% on the insurer's plan to return 1.75 billion pounds ($2.88 billion) to investors as the company agreed to sell its Canadian assets to Manulife Financial

On the country indexes, Germany's DAX 30 index fell 0.6% at 9,567, and France's CAC 40 lost 0.2% at 4,411.24. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 picked up 0.2% to 6,883. The Bank of England will also issue a monetary policy decision later Thursday.

The Stoxx 600 on Wednesday climbed 0.7% after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko agreed to the outlines of a cease-fire plan between Kiev's forces and pro-Russian separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine. Further talks will be held Friday.

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