European Shares Lack Direction Ahead Of US Election, Fed Meeting

(RTTNews) - European stocks struggled for direction on Monday due to investor anxiety ahead of this week's U.S. presidential election and the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision.

With just 1 day until the U.S. elections, over 75 million early votes have already been cast, according to University of Florida estimates.

Voters will determine whether the next president enters office with a friendly Congress or a hostile one.

If control of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate is divided, it would likely mean a maintaining of the status quo.

The U.S. Federal Reserve will announce its interest rate decision on Thursday, followed by Fed. Chair Jerome Powell's press conference.

Markets expect the U.S. central bank to cut interest rates by 25 bps amid economic contradictions, following a supersize 50 basis point move in September.

Also, the Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates by 25 basis points when it meets on Thursday.

The pan European STOXX 600 was marginally higher at 511.27 after rallying 1.1 percent on Friday.

The German DAX slid 0.1 percent, France's CAC 40 was little changed with a positive bias and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up half a percent.

Chipmaker STMicroelectronics declined 1.6 percent after Morgan Stanley downgraded its rating on the stock to "underweight" from "equal weight".

Italian energy group Eni gained 0.6 percent after completing the sale of two upstream offshore assets.

Construction firm Skanska AB climbed 1.1 percent after it signed a contract to build a pair of office blocks in South Molton Street in London's West End.

Resources-linked shares were moving higher in London on the back of higher commodity prices.

Miners Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore were up between 0.6 percent and 1.2 percent.

Energy giant BP Plc added 1.3 percent and peer Shell gained 1.2 percent as oil prices rose more than $1 on a decision by OPEC+ to delay by a month plans to increase output.

Burberry jumped nearly 5 percent following reports that Italy's Moncler could be considering making a bid for the luxury firm.

Schneider Electric fell about 1 percent after the French industrials giant ousted CEO Peter Herweck with immediate effect, citing issues with his execution of the company's strategy.