Market Analysis

European stocks declined for the third consecutive session on Thursday ahead of key economic data releases from the euro zone, which are expected to influence the European Central Bank's interest rate decisions. The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX was slightly lower by 0.1% as of 0712 GMT, led by a 1.3% drop in mining stocks .SXPP.

Investor focus is on the euro zone's economic sentiment figures for May, due at 0900 GMT, anticipated to show a modest improvement. Concurrently, April's unemployment rate data will provide insights into the region's economic health. Later in the day, remarks from Irish Central Bank Governor Gabriel Makhlouf and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey will be closely monitored, alongside upcoming inflation reports from the U.S. and euro zone scheduled for Friday.

German 10-year bund yields DE10YT=RR held steady at 2.671% on Thursday, stabilizing after a recent increase triggered by mixed U.S. Treasury auctions and robust economic data that cast doubt on potential rate cuts.

Shares of German software giant SAP SAPG.DE declined by 3.3% following a significant drop in its peer Salesforce CRM.N, which missed expectations due to subdued client spending on cloud and enterprise products.

On a positive note, UK's Auto Trader AUTOA.L emerged as the top gainer on the STOXX 600, climbing 9% after surpassing analysts' profit forecasts.

Paraphrasing text from "Reuters" all rights reserved by the original author.