The European stock markets closed lower in Wednesday trading as The Stoxx Europe 600 lost 0.95%, Germany's DAX dropped 1.79%, the FTSE 100 in London was down 0.69%, France's CAC 40 fell 1.27%, and the Swiss Market Index closed 0.74% lower.

In the UK, the consumer price index rose 3.0% in the 12 months to January, up from 2.5% a year earlier, according to the Office for National Statistics. The increase outpaced the 2.8% expected by analysts, according to Bloomberg. The ONS said the main contributors to the rise in inflation were food and non-alcoholic beverages.

The ONS also reported Wednesday that producer input prices grew 0.8% in January from the previous month, compared with forecasts of 0.7%, according to Bloomberg. Meanwhile producer output prices rose 0.5% in January from December, compared with analyst forecasts of 0.2%.

And in corporate news, Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk is seeking up to $830 million in damages from KBP Biosciences, alleging the Singapore-based firm engaged in fraud during the 2023 sale of ocedurenone, a drug that supposedly treated hypertension, according to an Feb. 14 court document made public this week. Novo Nordisk and KBP Biosciences did not immediately reply to MT Newswires' request for comment.

Apple has warned the UK's competition regulator that some of the options the government has proposed to address the company's alleged abuse of its market position in the mobile browser market could harm the company's ability to innovate, Reuters reported Wednesday. Apple did not immediately reply to MT Newswires' request for comment.

HSBC said Wednesday that it pushed back by 20 years its target to reach net zero in operations, travel, and supply chain, which it now aims to achieve by 2050 instead of 2030. The revision follows an annual review of HSBC's net-zero transition plan, which was first unveiled in January 2024.

BHP Group said Wednesday that it has priced $3 billion of senior unsecured bonds in the US issued by its subsidiary BHP Billiton Finance. The British mining company said it will use the proceeds for general corporate purposes.