European Shares Seen Tad Lower At Open As Fed Meeting Gets Underway

(RTTNews) - European stocks look set to open on a tepid note Tuesday as a two-day policy meeting of the Federal Reserve gets underway later today, with investors hoping for dovish guidance.

The Bank of Japan may raise interest rates on Wednesday while unexpected strength in U.K. services inflation has left the Bank of England's meeting on Thursday on a knife edge.

Trading later in the day may be impacted by reaction to U.S. reports on home prices, consumer confidence and job openings.

Closer home, advanced GDP data from Eurozone and Germany will be closely watched.

On the earnings front, Merck, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble and JetBlue are among the prominent American companies due to report their quarterly results before the opening bell.

Mega-cap companies including Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Apple and Amazon are due to report their quarterly results this week.

Asian markets traded mostly lower while the dollar and yen were moving in tight ranges.

Gold edged up slightly while crude oil prices extended losses to hover near a seven-week low amid China demand concerns, a lack of immediate escalation in tensions between Israel and Hezbollah and ahead of an OPEC+ meeting.

Following a deadly rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the U.S. is spearheading urgent diplomatic efforts to avert a full-blown war between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese movement Hezbollah.

U.S. stocks fluctuated before ending narrowly mixed overnight as investors braced for key tech earnings and the FOMC meeting.

The Dow slipped 0.1 percent while the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended flat with a positive bias.

European stocks ended Monday's session broadly lower, failing to hold early gains amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.

The pan European STOXX 600 eased 0.2 percent. The German DAX dipped half a percent and France's CAC 40 shed 1 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 finished marginally higher.