Aug 02, 2022 01:55AM ET
By: AnalysisWatch
European stock markets are expected to open lower on Tuesday due to rising geopolitical concerns and fears about the global economic slowdown.
At 2:00 AM ET, the DAX futures contract in Germany was trading 0.6% lower; CAC 40 futures in France were down 0.4%; and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the United Kingdom was down 0.3%.
Stock markets in Europe received negative relief from Asia following media reports from Taiwan suggesting that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will visit the territory claimed by Beijing later in the day.
Such a move would heighten tensions between the world's two economic superpowers, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian saying Monday that it would provoke "very serious developments and consequences."
In addition, the United States accused Russia of using Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant as a "nuclear shield" by stationing troops there, risking a nuclear accident.
These developments come as manufacturing PMI data from the U.S., Europe, and Asia, released in the last two days, showed a slowdown in manufacturing activity in July, raising fears of a recession.
On the corporate front, the main earnings release on Tuesday will be from BP, with the British energy giant expected to follow the lead of rival Shell and post strong quarterly results, as high oil and gas prices more than offset the negative impact of its withdrawal from Russia.
Oil prices fell on Tuesday, continuing the previous session's sell-off on fears that a slowdown in the global manufacturing sector will affect demand ahead of a meeting of major producers to discuss future production.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, will meet on Wednesday to discuss future supply.
The group has recently withdrawn pandemic-era cuts in oil supply and is expected to hold output steady despite U.S. pressure to increase production.