European stocks close: stocks closed lower as market participants are awaiting the Fed's interest rate decision next week

Stock indices closed lower as market participants are awaiting the Fed's interest rate decision next week. It remains unclear if the Fed starts raising its interest rates in September or not.

Markets participants are also cautious as China will release the economic data on Sunday. These data could add to concerns over the slowdown in the Chinese economy.

Meanwhile, the economic data from the Eurozone was mostly negative. Destatis released its final consumer price data for Germany on Friday. German final consumer price index was flat in August, in line with the preliminary estimate, after a 0.2% rise in July.

On a yearly basis, German final consumer price index remained unchanged at 0.2% in August, in line with the preliminary estimate.

The decline was driven by falling energy prices, which dropped 7.6% year-on-year in August.

German wholesale prices fell 0.8% in August, after a 0.1% increase in July.

On a yearly basis, wholesale prices in Germany dropped 1.1% in August, after a 0.5% decline in July. Wholesale prices have been declining since July 2013.

The fall was mainly driven by a 14.7% decline in the wholesale prices of solid fuels and related products.

The Bank of France released its current account data on Friday. France's current account surplus turned to a deficit of €0.4 billion in July from a surplus of €0.8 billion in June. June's figure was revised down from a surplus of €1.0 billion.

The deficit in the trade of goods was down to €0.9 billion in July from €1.0 billion in the previous month, while the surplus on services dropped to €0.3 billion from €1.7 billion.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released its construction output data for the U.K. on Friday. Construction output in the U.K. declined 1.0% in July, after a 0.9% rise in June.

The decline was driven by a drop in new work, which plunged 1.5% in July.

On a yearly basis, construction output decreased 0.7% in July. It was the first decline since May 2013.

Indexes on the close:

Name Price Change Change %

FTSE 100 6,117.76 -38.05 -0.62 %

DAX 10,123.56 -86.88 -0.85 %

CAC 40 4,548.72 -47.81 -1.04 %