European Shares Seen Tad Higher At Open

(RTTNews) - European stocks look set to open a tad higher on Wednesday despite rising headwinds to growth.

Asian markets traded mixed, with Chinese and Hong Kong stocks rallying, as key Chinese data for May painted a positive picture of the world's second-largest economy.

Industrial production rose unexpectedly, retail sales fell less than expected, property sales fell at a slower pace and fixed asset investment for the January to May period topped expectations, helping investors get a reprieve from Fed rate hike anxiety.

The consensus among Fed watchers is that the FOMC will raise its key Fed Funds rate by 50 bps later in the day. A move of 75 basis points would be a surprise, given the deteriorating outlook for growth around the world.

Elsewhere, economists expect another 25-bps rate hike from the Bank of England on Thursday to tame inflation without further hurting growth.

The dollar held near its overnight 20-year peak and gold rebounded from near one-month lows on the back of weaker treasury yields, while oil bounced back from losses in the overnight session.

Europe's gas prices surged by double-digits on Tuesday after Russia's Gazprom said that it would limit natural gas supply via the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany by 40 percent compared to planned flows because of a delay in equipment repairs.

U.S. stocks ended mixed overnight after a measure of producer prices increased solidly in May, underscoring the ongoing threat to the economy from a bout of inflation.

The Dow dipped half a percent and the S&P 500 slipped 0.4 percent to extend losses for a fifth straight session, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index edged up 0.2 percent.

European stocks extended their selloff for a sixth straight session on Tuesday amid worries that aggressive monetary policy tightening by central banks could push the global economy into a recession.

The pan European Stoxx 600 gave up 1.3 percent. The German DAX dropped 0.9 percent, France's CAC 40 index fell 1.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 eased 0.3 percent.