European stock markets are anticipated to start higher on Thursday as investors assess the latest Federal Reserve minutes ahead of important Eurozone inflation data and additional corporate results.
At 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany was 0.4% higher, the CAC 40 futures contract in France was 0.2% higher, and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the United Kingdom was 0.2% higher.
The major European indexes have had a difficult week to date, with the DAX, CAC 40, and FTSE 100 all falling around 1% on fears that interest rates will have to rise further to fight inflation, stifling economic activity.
The final reading of the Eurozone’s January CPI is anticipated later in the session, with an upward adjustment to 8.6% year-on-year from 8.5% the previous month. And that was before this month’s unanticipated increase in company activity.
The European Central Bank’s president, Christine Lagarde, reiterated last week the central bank’s plan to increase borrowing costs by another half-point next month, and further rises into early summer appear very possible.
The minutes of the Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting, published late Wednesday, revealed that some officials wished to reduce the pace of interest rate increases in order to better interpret the new economic statistics.
But that was before the January employment data, which effectively stopped talk of an impending crisis.
Fed fund futures now anticipate three more increases this year, raising the Fed Funds Rate goal range to 5.25%–5.50% from 4.5%–4.75%.
In Europe, Deutsche Telekom’s (ETR:DTEGn) fourth-quarter profits came in marginally ahead of forecasts, aided by user growth in Germany and good performance from T-Mobile US (NASDAQ:TMUS).
Accor (EPA:ACCP) exceeded expectations for its annual core profit, with Europe’s largest hotel company noting “very strong” December business.
WPP (LON:WPP), Rolls-Royce (LON:RR), BAE Systems (LON:BAES), Munich Re (EBR:MUVGn), and AXA are also expected to release results (EPA:AXAF).
Oil prices edged higher on Thursday, finding some support after a long losing run as investors worried that higher interest rates would restrict economic activity and thus fuel demand.
Furthermore, the American Petroleum Institute reported that US oil inventories increased by nearly 10 million barrels last week, raising investor concerns about demand in the world’s biggest consumer. Since mid-December, inventories have risen every week.
By 02:00 ET, US oil futures were 0.2% higher at $74.07 per barrel, after falling for six straight days, while Brent futures were 0.2% higher at $80.75.
Furthermore, gold futures dropped 0.1% to $1,839.45/oz, while the EUR/USD rose 0.2% to 1.0622.