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Investing.com – European stock markets are seen opening slightly higher Wednesday, with investors wary of taking positions ahead of key economic releases, amid stalemate in Washington over the latest relief bill and as the earnings season continues.
At 2:10 AM ET (0610 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.2% higher, the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. rose 0.1%, while CAC 40 futures in France climbed 0.1%.
The markets continue to look to the U.S. Congress for lawmakers to agree to another round of stimulus to help the American economy, the world’s largest and key driver.
U.S. Treasury Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday that the goal is to strike a deal on legislation by the end of the week, but it remains to be seen whether Republicans and Democrats can reach an agreement on the package’s price tag.
Wednesday sees an abundance of economic data releases on both sides of the Atlantic which should inform the global recovery debate.
In the euro area, final services PMI number should recover this important sector is back in expansion territory, while retail sales for June are expected to show another solid increase.
In the U.S., the non-farm ADP jobs report is expected to show a gain of 1.5 million workers, down from 2.369 million in June, and will be studied carefully ahead of Friday’s official monthly jobs report.
Meanwhile, the global death toll from Covid-19 surpassed 700,000 on Wednesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, with the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico leading the rise in fatalities.
In corporate news, BMW (DE:BMWG) said it still expected an operating profit for the full year even as coronavirus lockdowns pushed the carmaker to a second-quarter operating loss as deliveries of luxury cars fell 25% during the period.
Also, Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) posted a 21% decline in second-quarter profit, as risk provisions rose sharply to 469 million euros from 178 million euros, and the German bank said it expects to make a loss this year.
Oil prices were largely unchanged Wednesday, after previously climbing to the highest levels in nearly two weeks following an explosion at Lebanon’s capital Beirut and a hefty U.S. inventory draw.
The blast, which authorities say was caused by highly explosive materials at the port, raised fears of instability in the volatile region, while the American Petroleum Institute reported a 8.59 million-barrel decline in U.S. crude inventories last week, suggesting healthy demand in the country.
That said, the official U.S. government inventories tally will be released later Wednesday, while coronavirus cases continue rising in the United States, with dozens of states having had to pause or scale back plans to reopen their economies.
U.S. crude futures traded unchanged at $41.70 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract rose 0.1% to $44.48.
Elsewhere, gold futures rose 1% to $2,027.20/oz, continuing to set record highs after breaking past the $2,000 per ounce mark, while EUR/USD traded at 1.1806, up 0.1%.
