Europe stocks inch lower with U.S. Fed in focus

Europe stocks inch lower with U.S. Fed in focus
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets opened slightly lower on Thursday, with investors staying on the sidelines as they awaited the outcome of a two-day monetary policy meeting in the U.S. The Stoxx Europe 600 index (STX:XX:SXXP) fell 0.1% to 272.65. BAE Systems PLC (LSS:UK:BA) posted one of the biggest losses in the index, down 6.6%. The defense and security firm rallied 11% on Wednesday after the company and fellow defense contractor EADS N.V. (EPA:FR:EAD) , the parent of Airbus, confirmed they were in talks toward a potential merger. Shares of EADS sank 9.4%. Elsewhere, miners were among major decliners. Rio Tinto PLC (LSS:UK:RIO) (NYSE:RIO) (ASX:AU:RIO) shed 0.7% and Anglo American PLC (LSS:UK:AAL) lost 0.8%. The losses weighed on the FTSE 100 index (FTI:UK:UKX) , which was flat around 5,781.41. In France, Societe Generale SA (EPA:FR:GLE) gave up 0.8%. The CAC 40 index (ENX:FRX1) was down 0.4% at 35,31.24. Germany's DAX 30 index (ITFXAX) fell 0.1% to 7,335.12