Sep 07, 2022 02:03AM ET
By: AnalysisWatch
European stock markets are expected to open lower on Wednesday as investors continue to worry about the region slipping into recession due to persistent inflationary pressures.
At 02:00 GMT, the DAX futures contract in Germany was trading 1% lower, the CAC 40 futures contract in France was down 0.6%, and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the UK was down 0.9%.
German industrial production fell 0.3% month-on-month in July, data released on Wednesday showed, weakening from a revised 0.8% growth in the previous month, as the outlook for Europe's largest economy continued to deteriorate in the wake of February's Russian invasion of Ukraine and the related regional energy crisis.
Later on Wednesday, we have further data to study in the form of Eurozone GDP and employment for the second quarter, and both are expected to highlight the deteriorating economic situation.
These figures come just a day before the European Central Bank's next policy meeting, where the Governing Council is widely expected to aggressively raise interest rates to try and curb the fading inflation trend, even at the expense of growth in the region.
Sentiment was also affected by news from Asia, where China's trade surplus narrowed sharply in August from the previous month, with both exports and imports registering significant declines as new COVID-related disruptions and energy shortages weighed on economic activity.
Oil prices fell on Wednesday, erasing any gains from the previous week, as COVID-19-related shutdowns in China added to concerns about a slowdown in global economic growth and the associated hit to demand.
The oil market rebounded early in the week after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, the group known as OPEC+, announced a modest 100,000 barrel per day cut in October production.