The European stock markets closed mixed in Wednesday trading as the Stoxx Europe fell 0.20%, Germany's DAX dropped 0.18%, the FTSE in London gained 0.2%, France's CAC lost 0.72%, and the Swiss Market Index closed 0.10% higher.

Isabel Schnabel, an executive board member of the European Central Bank, said the central bank needs to be cautious regarding interest rate cuts, Bloomberg reported. Schnabel said cutting rates too much could backfire.

"Given the inflation outlook, I think we can gradually move toward neutral if the incoming data continue to confirm our baseline," Schnabel told Bloomberg. "I would warn against moving too far, that is into accommodative territory."

In Germany, GfK reported Wednesday that its consumer sentiment index fell sharply in November, declining 4.9 points from the previous month to -23.3. The market research firm said German consumers are more pessimistic about the economy for the fourth straight month.

In France, household confidence in November dropped three points to 90 compared with October, according to the Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. The index reading remains below its long-term average of 100.

And in corporate news, Spanish biopharmaceutical company Grifols has rejected a takeover bid by a third-party as Brookfield Asset Management plans to walk away from its proposed acquisition to acquire the company, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing the Grifols family.

Brookfield said in a statement to MT Newswires that "it is not in a position to continue with a potential offer for Grifols."

UBS Group was acquitted of a 2022 conviction for Credit Suisse's role in a Bulgarian criminal organization's drug trafficking and money laundering activities in Switzerland, according to a statement from the country's Federal Criminal Court.

And the European Commission has approved Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk and investment firm KKR's joint acquisition of Sylvan International Biotechnology in China, the Commission said Wednesday, adding it found that the proposed transaction would not raise competition concerns.