Jun 09, 2022 02:01AM ET
By: AnalysisWatch
European stock markets are expected to open lower on Thursday ahead of an important meeting of the European Central Bank, which is expected to set the timetable for interest rate hikes to fight soaring inflation.
At 2 a.m. ET, DAX futures in Germany were down 0.7%, CAC 40 futures in France were down 0.9%, and FTSE 100 futures in the UK were down 0.6%.
Later in the session, European markets will focus on the ECB's policy-setting meeting, where the central bank is expected to announce soon the end of its large-scale asset purchases, paving the way for the first increase in interest rates next month for the first time in more than a decade to combat record inflation.
In Europe, there are few major economic data releases on Thursday, but late on Wednesday China released better-than-expected trade data, showing that the world's second-largest economy is starting to recover after the removal of the harsh COVID-19 measures.
In May, a new round of trade talks was held in the EU.
China's exports rose by 16.9% year-on-year, much faster than April's 3.9%, while imports rose by 4.1% year-on-year, the first increase in three months compared to April's modest growth.
This good trade data helped oil prices to stabilize around three-month highs, as it pointed to a recovery in the world's largest oil-importing economy.
Elsewhere, official data from the US Energy Information Administration, also released on Wednesday, showed that just over 2 million barrels of crude oil were stockpiled last week, but gasoline inventories in the US dropped by 812,000 barrels, suggesting that demand for fuel during the summer peak is resilient, despite rising prices.
The price of US crude oil futures was 0.1% lower at USD 122.05 per barrel at 2 a.m. ET, while the price of Brent futures was 0.1% higher at USD 123.62 per barrel.
In addition, gold futures fell by 0.1% to USD 1,854.10 per ounce and the euro/dollar exchange rate rose by 0.1% to 1.0716.
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