European stocks remain lower, eyes on Fed; Dax down 0.24%

European stocks remained lower on Wednesday, as markets continued to eye a highly anticipated policy statement by the Federal Reserve later in the day. 

During European afternoon trade, the EURO STOXX 50 shed 0.42%, France’s CAC 40 retreated 0.52%, while Germany’s DAX 30 slipped 0.24%. 

Investors remained cautious amid growing expectations that the Fed will to start to unwind its USD85 billion-a-month bond purchasing program later this year.

In May, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the bank could begin to taper asset purchases if the economy continued to improve. 

Financial stocks were mixed, as shares in French lenders BNP Paribas and Societe Generale fell 0.20% and 0.07%, while Germany's Deutsche Bank climbed 0.45%. 

Among peripheral lenders, Spanish banks Banco Santander and BBVA slid 0.38% and 0.44% respectively, while Italy's Unicredit gained 0.60%. 

Elsewhere, Alcatel-Lucent surged 4.46% after the company announced plans to sell assets and save EUR1 billion in fixed costs by 2015 to stem losses and focus the company on more promising business like ultra-high-speed Internet. 

Adding to gains, Nokia Oyj rallied 3.26% following reports China’s Huawei Technologies may be interested in buying the company. 

In London, FTSE 100 fell dropped 0.53%, after the minutes of the Bank of England’s June meeting showed that three policymakers voted in favor of additional easing, unchanged from the previous month. 

Financial stocks turned mostly lower, as shares in HSBC Holdings dropped 0.55% and Lloyds Banking declined 0.43%, while the Royal Bank of Scotland lost 0.40%. Barclays held gains on the other hand, up 0.02%. 

Meanwhile, mining stocks were mixed. Rio Tinto jumped 1.09% and Anglo American edged up 0.09%, while Fresnillo and Eurasian Natural Resources plummeted 1.49% and 1.57% respectively. 

In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a higher open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.09% gain, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.15% rise, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.24% increase.