European stocks move lower as attention turns to the Fed

European stocks edged lower on Wednesday as the market fallout of the Iran war remains in the spotlight ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s next policy move.

At 12:55 p.m. in London (8:55 a.m. ET), the pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.5% lower, reversing earlier gains, with most sectors and major bourses trading in negative territory.

In corporate news, shares of British firm Diploma — a distributor of technical fastenings to the aerospace, life sciences and motorsport sectors — added 17.9%. It came after the FTSE 100 constituent announced a significant upgrade to its full-year outlook. The firm said it now expects organic revenue growth of 9%, up from 6%, with analyst consensus on operating profit rising by 13%.

Shares of FTSE 250 IT firm Softcat jumped 8.1% in afternoon dealmaking after the company reported its fiscal half-year results, touting an “exceptional” performance and hiked its guidance for the full-year.

Softcat said it now expects high single-digit growth in underlying operating profit, up from a previous forecast of low single-digit growth. Underlying operating profit in the six months to Jan. 31 rose by 27.3% year-on-year, which the company attributed to “successful execution and strategic progress.”

On Wednesday morning, oil prices retreated but held above the $100 mark as rising U.S. crude inventories helped offset rising geopolitical risk premiums.