12:12 PM EDT, 09/18/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The European stock markets closed lower in Wednesday trading as The Stoxx Europe 600 was down 0.49%, the Swiss Market Index declined 0.50%, France's CAC dropped 0.57%, the FTSE in London fell 0.68%, and Germany's DAX edged 0.03% lower.

The euro area annual inflation rate declined to 2.2% in August from 2.6% in July, and 5.2% a year earlier, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In the EU, the annual inflation rate was 2.4% in August, down from 2.8% in July and 5.9% in August 2023. The lowest annual rates were in Lithuania, Latvia, Ireland, Slovenia, and Finland, while the highest annual rates were in Romania, Belgium, and Poland. Compared with July, annual inflation rates fell in 20 member countries, rose in six, and remained unchanged in one.

In the UK, the consumer prices index rose 2.2% in the 12 months to August, unchanged from July, according to the Office for National Statistics. On a monthly basis, CPI rose 0.3% in August, the same rate as a year earlier. Meanwhile, core CPI, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, increased 3.6% in the 12 months to August from 3.3% in July.

The ONS also reported Wednesday that producer input prices declined 1.2% in the year to August, down from a revised increase of 0.2% in the year to July. Producer output prices were up 0.2% in the year to August, down from an increase of 0.8% in the year to July. On a monthly basis, producer input prices were down 0.5%, while output prices fell 0.3% in August.

And in corporate news, Meta Platforms is facing a European Union antitrust fine over allegations it tried to corner the online classified advertising market, the Financial Times reported Wednesday, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. The EU declined to comment. Facebook did not immediately reply to MT Newswires' request for comment.

The EU general court said Wednesday that it annulled a nearly 1.5 billion-euro ($1.67 billion) fine imposed by the European Commission on Alphabet's Google, citing errors in the Commission's assessment. Google had faced complaints over clauses in the services agreement of its advertising service AdSense for Search that allegedly indicated that services competing with AdSense could be foreclosed.

"We are pleased that the court has recognized errors in the original decision and annulled the fine," a Google spokesperson told MT Newswires. "This case is about a very narrow subset of text-only search ads placed on a limited number of publishers' websites."

GSK said Wednesday that it reached confidential settlements in two lawsuits in California claiming that its discontinued heartburn treatment Zantac caused cancer. The British pharmaceutical company said it does not admit any liability in either settlement, and the cases will now be dismissed. Shares of GSK were off 0.34% in Wednesday trading in London.

UK pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said Wednesday that its Fasenra (benralizumab) was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat adults with eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis. AstraZeneca shares were down nearly 1% in London.