12:15 PM EDT, 09/11/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The European stock markets closed mixed in Wednesday trading as The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.02%, the Swiss Market Index was down 0.35%, France's CAC was off 0.14%, the FTSE in London declined 0.15%, and Germany's DAX closed 0.34% higher.

In the UK, real gross domestic product was flat in July compared with June when there was also no growth, according to the Office for National Statistics. In the three months to July, the ONS said real GDP grew by 0.5% compared with the three months to April.

The ONS also reported that the UK's monthly production output decreased an estimated 0.8% in July from June, when it increased 0.8% from the previous month.

In Germany, the number of regular insolvencies rose 10.7% in August compared with the same month last year, according to preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office. The FSO said that except in June, when insolvencies rose 6.3%, the monthly growth rate has been in the double digits for more than a year.

And in corporate news, shares of Rentokil tumbled 19% in London Wednesday after the British pest control company reported lower-than-expected revenue growth in North America for July and August and cut its outlook for H2 revenue growth.

Italian investment banker UniCredit is in discussions with German private banking company Commerzbank about a possible merger, Reuters reported Wednesday. Shares of Commerzbank climbed nearly 17% in Frankfurt.

GSK said Wednesday that the early-to-mid stage study of its experimental herpes simplex virus vaccine GSK3943104 did not meet the primary efficacy objective and that it will not advance the vaccine to phase 3 trials.

And Stellantis said Wednesday that it will invest more than $406 million in three of its facilities in Michigan to increase the European automaker's electric vehicle production capacity.