European stocks fell on Wednesday as weak Chinese inflation date suggested pressing deflationary risks still haunt the world's second biggest economy.

As of 13:29 GMT, British index FTSE 100 fell 51 points, or 0.81% to 6,291. Germany's DAX fell 77 points, or 0.77% to 9,956. France's CAC 40 fell 24 points, or 0.53% to 4,618.

U.S. stocks were better off as earnings season for U.S. companies kick off with a host of banks and companies posting profits for the third quarter. NASDAQ was flat at 4,800, S&P 500 was unchanged from yesterday as well, trading at 2,001. Dow Jones fell however 28 points, or 0.17% to 17,049.

Sterling rose sharply after date showed British unemployment rate at a seven-year low at 5.4%, beating forecasts of 5.5%. Sterling rose to a three-week high against Dollar to 1.5416. Against Euro it erased most of its Tuesday's losses, to trade at 0.7419. Against Yen it rose to 184.09.

Dollar took a beating after released data showed Producer Price Index falling 0.5% in September, against a forecast of only a 0.2% drop. U.S. retail sales rose 0.1% in September, missing a forecast of a 0.2% rise. Dollar fell to a near four-week low against Euro to 1.1430. Against Yen it fell for the third session to 119.39.

Crude oil recovered after a drop in early trading. Brent oil rose 12 cents to $49.35 a barrel after falling to $48.68 earlier. U.S. oil rose to $46.65 a barrel after falling to $46.02 earlier. Commodity-linked currencies took heart from the recovery, with the Australian dollar rising against U.S. dollar to 0.7275. Canadian dollar rose to 1.2973.

Spot gold is up 9 dollars, or 0.77% to $1,174 an ounce. Silver rose 18 cents, or 1.15% to $16.07 an ounce.