March 17 Reuters European stocks were flat on Wednesday as most investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserves policy decision, while German carmaker BMW jumped after forecasting significant profit growth in 2021.

The panEuropean STOXX 600 index edged 0.02 lower in early trading, tracking a cautious mood in Asian markets.

The Feds view on its monetary policy stance will be closely watched after a recent runup in Treasury yields stoked concerns about higher inflation as the economy rebounds from pandemic lows. The U.S. central banks policy statement and economic forecasts are due at 2 p.m. EDT 1800 GMT.

BMW rose 1.9 after it said it expects a significant yearonyear increase in group pretax profit in 2021 as it forecast a strong performance in all of its segments.

Automakers gained 0.8 to lead sectoral gains, while travel leisure, oil gas and miners led the decliners.

Credit Suisse slipped 0.5 after Kepler Cheuvreux downgraded the Swiss lender to hold, citing concerns about the the Greensill case.

Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr

Source Reuters