European Shares Seen Opening Up As Rate Fears Ebb

(RTTNews) - European stocks are likely to open higher on Thursday after tech stocks led Wall Street's rebound overnight on easing fears over the need for further rate rises.

A 5 percent drop in crude prices on Wednesday also helped ease investor concerns around inflation.

Asian markets were broadly higher, with Japan's Nikkei climbing 1.7 percent after declining to a four-month low the previous day.

The dollar gave up some recent gains and U.S. Treasury yields moderated as traders scaled back forecasts for Fed tightening this year.

Oil rose about half a percent in Asian trade, paring losses from its steepest one-day drop in a year.

Gold ticked higher ahead of U.S. weekly jobless claims data due later in the day and the more-closely watched U.S nonfarm payrolls report, due on Friday.

Economists expect U.S. employment to increase by 170,000 jobs in September after an increase of 187,000 jobs in August.

The unemployment rate is expected to edge down to 3.7 percent from 3.8 percent.

The European economic calendar remains light, with foreign trade and construction Purchasing Managers' survey results from Germany due later in the day.

U.S. stocks rebounded from four-month lows overnight and bond yields pulled back from 16-year highs after data showed private-sector employers added 89,000 jobs in September, the fewest since January 2021 - helping calm some fears over high interest rates.

A separate report revealed activity in the U.S. services sector slowed in September.

The Dow added 0.4 percent to snap a three-day losing streak, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rallied 1.4 percent and the S&P 500 climbed 0.8 percent.

European stocks ended a choppy session mixed on Wednesday as investors assessed a deluge of regional data.

The pan-European STOXX 600 slipped 0.1 percent. The German DAX finished marginally higher, while France's CAC 40 ended flat with a negative bias and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 dropped 0.8 percent.