European Shares Likely To Drift Lower As French Government Collapses

(RTTNews) - European stocks may open on a sluggish note Thursday after France's Prime Minister Michel Barnier lost a no-confidence vote - just three months after he was appointed by President Emmanuel Macron.

The development plunged the country into a deeper crisis that threatens its capacity to legislate and tame a massive budget deficit.

The euro is attempting to rebound while the greenback was little changed as weak U.S. economic data augmented the chances that the Federal Reserve could lower rates at the December meeting.

The South Korean won steadied ahead of President Yoon's impeachment motion on Dec 7. Gold ticked lower as the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries edged up slightly after sliding on Wednesday. Oil steadied after a steep decline the previous day and ahead of an OPEC+ meeting.

Asian markets fluctuated, with Hong Kong stocks leading regional losses, pressured by stimulus concerns and U.S.-China trade war fears.

Ahead of a key economic meeting next week, Chinese state media have warned against blindly chasing faster growth and signaled more focus on boosting consumption.

In economic releases, factory orders and construction Purchasing Managers' survey results from Germany along with industrial output figures from France are awaited later in the day.

Across the Atlantic, U.S. weekly jobless claims data may attract some attention, although activity may be somewhat subdued ahead of the release of the more closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

U.S. stocks rose overnight to reach new record highs after ending mixed for two straight days.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.3 percent, the Dow gained 0.7 percent and the S&P 500 edged up by 0.6 percent following upbeat results from Salesforce and Marvell Technology, and positive comments by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on the growth and inflation outlook.

Weaker-than-expected private sector employment and service sector activity data also contributed to optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

European stocks closed higher for a fifth consecutive session on Wednesday ahead of the no-confidence vote in France.

The pan European STOXX 600 advanced 0.4 percent. The German DAX rallied 1.1 percent and France's CAC 40 added 0.7 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 dipped 0.3 percent.