European Shares Seen Tad Lower Ahead Of ECB And BoE Rate Decisions

(RTTNews) - European stocks are seen opening a tad lower on Thursday as investors await key U.S. consumer price inflation data later in the day for fresh guidance on the outlook for interest rates.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank is expected to hold interest rates steady for its fourth meeting in a row later today as inflation remains in check.

Elsewhere, the Bank of England is seen cutting interest rates at its final meeting of the year after a sharp slowdown in inflation and a weakening in economic growth.

Traders also wait for the Bank of Japan policy meeting on Friday, with the central bank widely expected to deliver a rate hike to tackle persisting inflation.

U.S. equity futures were fractionally higher following blowout earnings and positive guidance from Micron Technology Inc., the largest U.S maker of computer memory chips.

Asian markets were broadly lower in cautious trade. The dollar held gains against its major counterparts while the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries fell slightly on comments from a Federal Reserve official supporting the case for interest-rate cuts.

Gold held steady near record levels on increased uncertainty over the U.S. economy. Oil prices climbed, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude up nearly 1 percent amid geopolitical risks stemming from Venezuela to Russia.

U.S. stocks fell sharply overnight, with semiconductor and stocks tied to the AI trade losing further ground after reports emerged that Oracle's primary investor pulled out of one of its data center projects.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1.8 percent while the S&P 500 shed 1.2 percent and the Dow dropped half a percent to extend losses for a fourth consecutive session.

European stocks ended mixed on Wednesday as tech stocks faced selling pressure on concerns over sky-high valuations. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed little changed with a negative bias.

The German DAX dipped half a percent and France's CAC 40 slipped 0.3 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 0.9 percent after an unexpected drop in U.K. inflation.