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At 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.2% lower, CAC 40 futures in France dropped 0.2% and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. fell 0.1%.
Investors are set to concentrate during European hours on the release of the eurozone’s final services and composite PMIs for June, which are expected to confirm a slowing in what has been a consumption-led economic recovery.
This follows the release of disappointing manufacturing activity data, with surveys showing factory activity in all four of the region’s biggest economies contracted last month.
The equivalent news from Asia hit sentiment earlier in the session, as the Caixin/S&P Global services purchasing managers’ index, a private survey, indicated that China’s services activity expanded at the slowest pace in five months in June, easing to 53.9 in June from 57.1 in May, the lowest reading since January.
With the manufacturing sector also disappointing, these numbers point to softening growth in the second quarter in the second-biggest economy in the world, and a major export market for Europe’s biggest companies.
There was similar news out of Japan, as the final services purchasing managers’ index fell to a seasonally adjusted 54.0 last month from a record-high 55.9 in May.
Investors will also be worried that China blocking the export of key chipmaking materials to the U.S. could result in an escalation in a trade conflict between the world’s largest economies.
Elsewhere, the May producer prices for the eurozone are expected to show a weakening of inflationary pressures at the factory gate, while investors will also be carefully watching the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s June meeting.
This gathering resulted in a pause in tightening while adding two more rate hikes to the outlook.
Oil prices retreated Wednesday on renewed worries of a global economic slowdown weighed on market sentiment, overshadowing the news earlier this week of more supply cuts from a series of top producers.
The focus Wednesday will be on the release of the Fed minutes for further clues on the U.S. central bank’s outlook, as well as industry data on U.S. crude and product inventories from the American Petroleum Institute, a day later than usual.
By 02:00 ET, the Brent contract dropped 0.4% to $75.92, while U.S. crude futures traded 1.7% higher at $71.00 a barrel, having traded through a U.S. holiday to mark Independence Day without a settlement.
Additionally, gold futures fell 0.1% to $1.932.95/oz, while EUR/USD traded just higher at 1.0881.
