European shares slip in cautious trade

Europe's leading shares slipped on Wednesday as tentative rebound lost steam and investors were cautious that a new round on quantitative easing in the U.S. would be announced.
At 0714 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.1% at 922.58 points after rising 0.8% on Tuesday.
"We had a lot of excitement before as we headed into the last euro summit, much of the hype failed to come to fruition, so I think we've got be cautious," said Henk Potts, equity strategist at Barclays Wealth.
"I think the there will be a lot of promoting the positives, so long on principal short on detail," he said, adding the markets are now pricing in a recession, which Barclays did not believe was the likely scenario to be played out over the next couple of years and remained relatively positive on the prospects for equities.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is set to make a key speech at an annual central bank conference in Jackson Hole on Friday, where it is expected he will provide hints for further measures to revive the struggling economy.
Corporate results, however, continue to defy the macro gloom, with WPP Plc , the world's largest advertising group, among the top performing European shares, up 1.8% after it posted 7-month growth broadly in line with its annual forecast.