European Shares Set To Open Higher Buoyed By Lower Bond Yields

(RTTNews) - European stocks are likely to open on a positive note Wednesday as bond yields continued to decline amid optimism that global interest rates have peaked.

Falling oil prices also helped ease investor concerns surrounding inflation and interest rates.

Crude oil prices held near five-month lows on doubts about the impact of OPEC+ cuts and lingering concerns over Chinese demand.

U.S. 10-year Treasury yields dipped below the crucial 4.20 percent mark as signs of cooling labor market cemented views that the Federal Reserve is done hiking interest rates and would start cutting rates no later than May 2024.

The Bank of Canada is widely expected to hold interest rates steady later in the day, citing a deteriorating economic outlook.

Asian markets traded mostly higher after a broad sell-off on Tuesday.

Gold ticked higher on dollar weakness ahead of ADP's report on private sector employment due later in the day and the closely watched monthly jobs report, due on Friday.

Economists currently expect U.S. employment to increase by 185,000 jobs in November after an increase of 150,000 jobs in October. The unemployment rate is expected to hold at 3.9 percent.

In Europe, factory orders data and construction Purchasing Managers' survey results from Germany are awaited later in the day.

U.S. stocks ended mixed overnight as soft job openings data for October hinted at a cooling labor market and a gauge of services sector activity showed improvement in November.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.3 percent while the S&P 500 finished marginally lower and the Dow eased 0.2 percent.

European stocks closed mostly higher on Tuesday after dovish comments from an ECB official.

The pan European STOXX 600 rose 0.4 percent. The German DAX climbed 0.8 percent and France's CAC 40 added 0.7 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 declined 0.3 percent.