Investing.com - European stock markets are expected to open higher Wednesday, with sentiment boosted by the strong close on Wall Street overnight ahead of the release of inflation reports from Germany and Spain.
At 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.1% higher, CAC 40 futures in France climbed 0.2% and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. rose 0.1%.
The major indices on Wall Street closed sharply higher Tuesday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite leading the way, gaining 1.7%.
This followed the release of data showing U.S. job openings dropped to the lowest level in well over 2 years in July, raising hopes that the Federal Reserve was set to end its interest rate hiking cycle.
The Fed is widely expected to stand pat next month, so it's the meetings in November and December that are causing uncertainty as investors digest the incoming economic data for clues of what the U.S. central bank will do next.
German, Spanish inflation eyed
Back in Europe, ECB President Christine Lagarde hinted that the region’s central bank will pause its rate-hiking cycle in September at the press conference that followed its last meeting, a view that was hardened by a sharper-than-expected contraction in eurozone business activity.
However, annual inflation was 5.3% in July, way above the European Central Bank’s 2% medium-term, suggesting another 25 basis point hike is still likely before the end of the year.
The August eurozone CPI release is due later this week, and is expected to fall to 5.1%. However, there is upside potential to this figure given the German state of North Rhine Westphalia, the most populous state in the eurozone’s largest economy, saw its CPI rise 0.5% on the month, an annual increase of 5.9%.
Inflation reports from the whole German economy as well as Spain later in the day will provide further clues on price pressures in the region.
Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) could suffer drug blow
Earnings from the likes of Prudential (LON:PRU), Delivery Hero (ETR:DHER) and Eiffage (EPA:FOUG) are due Wednesday, but the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk (CSE:NOVOb) is likely to be in the spotlight on reports its popular diabetes drug could be one of the next drugs to have its price slashed in bargaining with the U.S. government.
Crude rises after massive U.S. inventories draw
Oil prices rose Wednesday, extending recent gains after industry data pointed to a hefty draw in U.S. crude stockpiles, adding to concerns about a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico.
Data from the American Petroleum Institute, released late Tuesday, showed that crude stocks fell by over 11 million barrels last week, suggesting healthy demand ahead of the Labor Day holiday that usually marks peak summer demand.
Additionally, Hurricane Idalia continues to head towards Florida, disrupting production in the Gulf of Mexico. Chevron (NYSE:CVX) said it had evacuated staff from three platforms, while Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) said it planned to shut a petroleum pipeline.
The offshore Gulf of Mexico accounts for about 15% of U.S. oil output and about 5% of natural gas production, according to the Energy Information Administration.
By 02:00 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 0.4% higher at $81.52 a barrel, while the Brent contract climbed 0.3% to $85.20. Both contracts rose over 1% on Tuesday.
Additionally, gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,964.05/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% lower at 1.0871.