European stock futures higher; German consumer sentiment improves

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By Peter Nurse

AiVIF.com - European stock markets are expected to open higher Wednesday, rebounding after the previous session’s weakness as consumer sentiment picked up in Germany, the Eurozone’s dominant economy.

At 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.7% higher, CAC 40 futures in France climbed 0.4%, and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. rose 0.4%.

Germany's consumer sentiment is set to show a small improvement in January, according to the forward-looking index released by the GfK institute earlier Wednesday.

The index came in at -37.8, showing a small but gradual improvement from the revised -40.1 the prior month, and October’s -42.8, the lowest reading in over a decade, as government energy measures helped stabilize morale.

This follows on from data released earlier this week that showed German business morale rose more than expected in December, with the Ifo institute indicating that the outlook for Europe's largest economy improved despite the energy crisis and high inflation.

"German business is entering the holiday season with a sense of hope," the think-tank wrote in a release accompanying its report on Monday.

This is helping European equity markets attempt to end the year on a more positive tone, amid hopes that the economic slowdown expected for the start of 2023 may not be as bad as feared.

European stocks had closed Tuesday largely lower as investors had been caught by surprise by the decision of the Bank of Japan to widen its cap on 10-year Japanese government bond yields, potentially signaling the end of the last ultra-easy monetary stance in the developed world.

The European Central Bank, along with the likes of the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, have already aggressively tightened monetary policy as they attempt to curb inflation at 40-year highs.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to travel to Washington to meet President Joe Biden and visit Congress later Wednesday as his country continues to suffer from Russia’s aggression.

Oil prices edged higher Wednesday, boosted by a larger-than-expected reduction in U.S. crude inventories amid supply disruptions caused by the temporary closure of the Keystone pipeline.

U.S. crude stocks fell by just over 3 million barrels in the week to Dec. 16, according to data from the industry body American Petroleum Institute.

The Energy Information Administration is set to release the official inventory figures later in the session.

By 02:00 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.2% higher at $76.39 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 0.3% to $80.22.

While oil prices have risen in recent sessions, they are still nursing sharp losses over the last few months as rising interest rates and high inflation fed into concerns over a potential recession in 2023.

Additionally, gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,824.25/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% lower at 1.0613.