European stocks remain lower in subdued trade; DAX down 0.54%

Forexpros - European stocks remained lower on Tuesday, after the European Central Bank said its president Mario Draghi would be unable to attend the Federal Reserve’s annual Jackson Hole summit later this week.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 dropped 0.62%, France’s CAC 40 declined 0.74%, while Germany’s DAX 30 retreated 0.53%.
The ECB said Draghi would not be attending the Fed's annual summit meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, due to his "heavy workload" in the next few days.
The unexpected announcement fuelled expectations that the ECB is working on policy measures to help stabilize the euro zone's sovereign debt markets, ahead of its next policy meeting on September 6.
The ECB president had been due to speak at the summit on Saturday, one day after a keenly anticipated speech by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Meanwhile, sentiment also remained under pressure after the Japanese government earlier cut its view of the economy for the first time in 10 months, as slowing exports weighed on production and consumer spending failed to expand.
Financial stocks remained broadly lower, led by German lender Deutsche Bank, down 1.68%, while France’s BNP Paribas dropped 0.80% and Spanish banks BBVA and Banco Santander retreated 0.48% and 0.62% respectively.
France’s third largest bank, Credit Agricole jumped 0.91% however, even as it posted a 67% decline in second-quarter profit, hurt by losses in Greece and a writedown of its stake in Italy’s Intesa Sanpaol.
In London, commodity-heavy FTSE 100 dipped 0.05%, weighed by losses in mining stocks.
Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton saw shares decline 1.52% and 0.08% respectively, while Antofagasta plummeted 1.15%.
Oil and gas major Anglo American also contributed to losses, with shares dropping 0.70%, while Cairn Energy plunged 3.68%.
Meanwhile, copper producers were mixed, as shares in Xstrata climbed 0.59%, erasing earlier losses, while Kazakhmys declined 2.61%.
Elsewhere, London-based pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca fell 0.34%, amid reports the company named Pascal Soriot, Roche Holding’s head of pharmaceuticals, as chief executive officer to revive sales and product development.
In the financial sector, stocks turned higher. Shares in Lloyds Banking eased up 0.09% and the Royal Bank of Scotland added 0.25%, while HSBC Holdings and Barclays rose 0.34% and 1.19%.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a steady open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.02% loss, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.01% fall, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.03% gain.
Also Tuesday, research group Gfk said that its index of Germany’s consumer climate remained unchanged at 5.9 in August, in line with expectations.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release a report on consumer confidence, a leading indicator of economic health, as well as industry data on house price inflation.