European Shares Set To Extend Losses As Oil, Inflation Concerns Mount

(RTTNews) - European stocks are seen opening lower on Tuesday, extending losses from the previous session as investors keep a close eye on the latest developments in the Middle East. U.S. President Donald Trump hasn't offered new details about the length or scope of the strikes on Iran that began over the weekend.

He laid out four objectives for the war and described the nuclear threat Iran poses.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also offered few details about the operation or the scope of duration of the war but claimed it will not be 'endless', framing the conflict as a "generational" chance to reshape the Middle East.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "the hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military" and that the next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now.

U.S. stock futures traded lower as investors awaited earnings from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike and retailer Target for direction.

Asian stocks were broadly lower, with Seoul and Japanese markets leading regional losses as the conflict in Iran entered its fourth day,

The dollar held gains from the prior session while gold traded above $5,350 an ounce on safe-haven demand.

Yields on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury edged up to 4.04 percent as investors trimmed expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts.

Oil prices continued to rise, with Brent crude futures trading up over 2 percent near $80 a barrel and WTI crude futures climbing toward $73 a barrel, after Iran's Revolutionary Guard says it has closed the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial waterway for the movement of oil.

European natural gas prices soared as Qatar suspended operations at its Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility, the world's largest LNG export plant.

Overnight, U.S. stocks recovered from an early slide to end mixed following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran's subsequent retaliation.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.4 percent as Nvidia announced a $4 billion investment into two U.S. photonics players.

The S&P 500 finished marginally higher after a federal court rejected the Trump administration's efforts to delay legal proceedings linked to tariff refunds.

The narrower Dow dipped 0.2 percent as a survey showed U.S. manufacturing activity expanded at a slower rate in February.

European stocks tumbled on Monday after U.S. President Trump said the conflict with Iran will likely last four to five weeks and that the U.S. has the "capability to go far longer than that", raising concerns about a significant widening of hostilities in the region.

The pan European Stoxx 600 fell 1.6 percent. The German DAX slumped 2.6 percent, France's CAC 40 plummeted 2.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 shed 1.2 percent.