Following poor Chinese manufacturing statistics, European stock markets are anticipated to begin lower on Wednesday.

Following poor Chinese manufacturing statistics, European stock markets are anticipated to begin lower on Wednesday before the publication of important regional inflation data.

Data made public earlier on Wednesday revealed that the Chinese manufacturing industry contracted in May, falling for a second consecutive month.

Chinese non-manufacturing PMI dropped to 54.5 for the month, below 54.9 expected and 56.4 from the previous month. As a result, the composite PMI, which measures total business activity in China, decreased from 54.4 in April to 52.9 in May.

The fact that the U.S. debt ceiling measure overcame a significant procedural challenge and is now headed to the House of Representatives for a vote later on Wednesday was overshadowed by this economic setback.

Before Thursday's flash eurozone inflation data, national CPI reports for May from France, Germany, and Italy are set to take centre stage on the economic calendar in Europe.

The nation's most populous German state, North Rhine-Westphalia, kicked things off early on Wednesday when it reported a May annual inflation rate of 5.7%, far lower than the 6.8% anticipated and the 6.7% corrected preceding figure.

This information supports the claims of officials from the European Central Bank that the continent's unprecedented price surge is waning and that interest rate rises may soon come to a halt, along with Tuesday's promising decline in Spanish consumer prices.

In business news, a report by Bloomberg News claims that Glencore is moving closer to raising its bid for Teck Resources in an effort to acquire the Canadian miner.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday as a result of the poor Chinese PMI statistics, which added to worries over the country's economic recovery.

These concerns, which contrast with the year's early optimism, have led some analysts to wonder if the country's economic recovery would result in record-high oil consumption this year.

(Sources: investing.com, reuters.com, bloomberg.com)