European Shares Seen Tad Lower As Fed Meeting Gets Underway

(RTTNews) - European stocks may open on a tepid note Tuesday as a two-day policy meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve gets underway later today.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues will update their economic and rate projections on Wednesday for the first time since December.

Earlier today, the Bank of Japan hiked its main interest rate for the first time in 17 years after assessing the virtuous cycle between wages and prices.

Elsewhere, the Reserve Bank of Australia kept interest rates steady and abandoned its mildly hawkish stance.

Policymakers at the People's Bank of China will meet on Wednesday while central bank meetings in Switzerland and Norway would take place on Thursday.

Asian markets traded mixed, with Seoul, mainland China and Hong Kong stocks retreating after China's top securities regulator accused property giant Evergrande and its founder, Hui Ka Yan, of a $78bn fraud in the two years leading up to its failure.

The dollar briefly climbed near the 150-yen line as traders waited to see whether there will be any changes to the U.S. central bank's famous dot plot.

Oil ticked lower after surging nearly 2 percent on Monday amid signs of a tight supply outlook. Gold held steady after rising in the previous session.

Germany's ZEW economic confidence survey results are due later in the day. The economic confidence index is forecast to rise to 20.6 in March from 19.9 in February.

Updated U.K. inflation figures are due on Wednesday and the forecast is for an annual rise of 3.6 percent year-on-year. PMIs and the Bank of England decision on Thursday and Friday's retail sales are also awaited.

Across the Atlantic, a report on new residential construction may garner some attention in the New York session later today, heading into the Fed announcement.

U.S. stocks rose overnight even as Treasury yields hit a three-week high amid uncertainty around Fed easing.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.8 percent after a renewed wave of AI enthusiasm.

The S&P 500 added 0.6 percent to snap a three-day losing streak while the Dow edged up 0.2 percent.

European stocks ended on a subdued note Monday ahead of a busy week of central bank decisions.

The pan European STOXX 600 eased 0.2 percent. The German DAX and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 both ended flat with negative bias, while France's CAC 40 dipped 0.2 percent.