Poland's Prime Minister Tusk said fuel VAT will be cut to 8%.

National Institute of Economic and Social Research economist Fergus Jimenez-England said the UK has so far resisted the recent energy-price shock better than many feared. Q2 GDP rose 0.4% following a 0.6% gain in Q1. Services output increased 0.4% in June, offsetting declines in construction and industrial production. Jimenez-England warned the recent growth pace may be hard to sustain; he expects inflation and unemployment to rise in coming months, and said business confidence is fragile and could weaken further if energy-price volatility continues. He said the economy has shown welcome resilience but is not yet out of the woods.

Aug 12 (Wed) close: Dow Jones Industrial Average down 21.69 pts (-0.04%) at 53,770.16; S&P 500 up 20.31 pts (+0.26%) at 7,748.51; Nasdaq Composite up 143.04 pts (+0.54%) at 26,588.49.