European Shares Likely To Open Lower In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - European stocks are seen opening a tad lower on Tuesday, as positive U.S. economic data and climbing oil prices brought the focus back to policy tightening.

The 10-year yield rose 7 points to around 3.2 percent and the dollar strengthened against peers as investors await comments and speeches by ECB President Christine Lagarde, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, the Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, and Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester at the ECB forum in Sintra, Portugal on Wednesday.

The introductory speech by Lagarde is expected to remain hawkish on interest rates amid soaring inflation.

Elsewhere, Governor of the People's Bank of China Governor Yi Gang said the central bank will keep its policy accommodative to support the economy through the shocks caused by COVID-19.

Oil prices extended gains for a third straight session after Libya and Ecuador flagged potential output cuts on political unrest and the United Arab Emirates' energy minister said the nation has no spare capacity.

The latest NATO summit opens in Spain today with the war in Ukraine top of the agenda.

Asian markets traded mixed while U.S. stock futures were little changed.

Market research group GfK is set to issue Germany's consumer sentiment survey data later in the day. The forward-looking sentiment index is forecast to fall to -27.7 in July from -26.0 in June.

France's statistical office Insee releases consumer confidence survey data for June. The confidence index is seen at 84 in June versus 86 in May.

U.S. stocks struggled for direction before finishing lower overnight, as Moscow defaulted on its sovereign debt for the first time since 1918 and oil prices rose amid efforts by G7 countries to try to cap the price that importers pay for Russian crude.

The Dow slipped 0.2 percent, the S&P 500 eased 0.3 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 0.7 percent despite positive durable goods orders and housing data.

European stocks closed at a two-week high on Monday as an easing of COVID-19 restrictions boosted miners and energy stocks.

The pan European Stoxx 600 gained half a percent. The German DAX rose half a percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.7 percent while France's CAC 40 index slipped 0.4 percent.