European stocks drift to an unimpressive close as Nasdaq 100 backs off

The European stock markets have just closed for the day and it has not exactly been an impressive session. The CAC 40 is the weakest of the three majors and was rocked by some markedly weaker than forecast PMI revisions and the FTSE struggled to make progress all day too. Nevertheless, the FTSE 100 is the only one of the three to end in the green today. The DAX did not manage to close higher either and was unable to recapture its earlier, opening highs above 15,200. The index has just now closed around 15,139 with a loss of just over 50 points on the day. The US markets are in better shape still and in percentage terms it is the Nasdaq 100 that is currently faring the best of the three major indexes. That might change ahead of the close tonight, but for the time being the Nasdaq 100 is trying to resist much of the downside pressure that might is in place from the slightly higher US treasury yields today. That said the index is well off its earlier high, at 15,180. It is currently trading at 15,120