European shares edge lower on fiscal cliff, austerity protests 

European shares edged lower in early trade on Wednesday as continued uncertainties over United States looming fiscal cliff, workers across Europe stirring series of strikes against austerity measures.

Labor unions in Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal staged public protests against their governments austerity measures that burden the people. The strike in Spain is the toughest as the countrys labor unions are in consensus chanting slogans against these measures.

Investors are also on a date with Bank of Englands inflation report; focus on the new growth and inflation projections to help investors project the coming BoE policy move, whether they will continue with QE or stay on hold for now.

Expectations are that growth is expected to be unrevised; nonetheless, Britains central bank is still likely to remain pessimistic about economic prospects amid lingering uncertainty and despite the unexpected 1.0% growth reported in the third quarter.

Adjustment to inflation, on the other end, is believed to be marginal and the BoE to hold onto expectations for stubborn inflation to gradually return below the 2.0% target over the medium term.

At 03:16 EST sharp, Frances CAC 40 slid 0.54% to 3411.99, German DAX to 7145.01, or by 0.34%, and British FTSE also by 0.56% to 5753.85.

11:48 (GMT 3), the euro fell to 1.2726 after opening at 1.2702. The EUR/USD popped to the intraday high at 1.2735 and set the low at 1.2699 so far.

The British pound also continued the downside move pushing the GBP/USD pair to trade at 1.5882 after opening at 1.5869. The pair traded at the highest of 1.5893 and lowest intraday at 1.5866 so far.