European Shares Seen Lower As Inflation Concerns Loom

(RTTNews) - European stocks may drift lower on Thursday despite strong earnings from Meta Platforms Inc and IBM.

Inflation concerns loom large following a spike in bond yields on fears that interest rates could stay higher for longer.

Asian markets traded mostly lower, with benchmark indexes in Japan and South Korea falling more than 2 percent.

A recent surge in government bond yields has led to speculation that the Bank of Japan may tweak its yield curve control policy at next week's meeting.

Meanwhile, European Central Bank policymakers are widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged when they meet in Athens later today.

The Federal Reserve is also expected to keep its short-term rate unchanged when it meets next week.

The dollar ticked up ahead of preliminary third-quarter U.S. GDP data and reports on weekly jobless claims, durable goods orders and pending home sales due to be released later in the day.

Economists expect the pace of GDP to show a significant acceleration to 4.2 percent in the third quarter from 2.1 percent in the second quarter.

On Friday, the Commerce Department is due to release a report on personal income and spending that includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell didn't not comment on monetary policy or economic outlook in prepared remarks on Wednesday before the 2023 Moynihan Lecture in Social Science and Public Policy event.

Gold ticked higher on Middle East tensions while oil edged down slightly, after having risen nearly 2 percent in the U.S. trading session to snap a three-day losing streak.

In a televised statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said Israel is preparing a ground invasion of Gaza but didn't provide any details.

Overnight, U.S. stocks fell sharply following disappointing quarterly results from Google-parent Alphabet and an uptick in Treasury yields.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite plummeted 2.4 percent to log its biggest single-day loss since Feb. 21 and the S&P 500 tumbled 1.4 percent to end below the 4,200 level for the first time since May, while the narrower Dow dropped 0.3 percent.

European stocks closed mixed on Wednesday as investors reacted to Middle East tensions and a slew of earnings both in the U.S. and Europe.

The pan-European STOXX 600 ended little changed with a positive bias. The German DAX finished marginally higher, while France's CAC 40 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 both rose about 0.3 percent.