European Shares May Struggle For Direction At Open

(RTTNews) - European stocks may open on a mixed note Wednesday as investors react to the latest batch of U.S. earnings released after the closing bell and hawkish Fed comments.

Ford shares climbed more than 6 percent in after-hours trading after the car maker surpassed earnings expectations for the fourth quarter and forecast higher profits this year.

On the other side, Snap shares plunged 30 percent after the company missed Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue.

Investors may also weigh hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials.

Federal Reserve Presidents Loretta Mester and Neel Kashkari welcomed the progress on inflation but cautioned that it would be a mistake to move rates down too soon or too quickly.

Fed Philadelphia President Patrick Harker sounded cautiously optimistic regarding the economic outlook and noted that the U.S. central bank is making "real progress" on inflation.

Fed Governors Adriana Kugler and Michelle Bowman, along with Presidents Thomas Barkin and Susan Collins are set to speak later in the day.

Traders pushed back Fed rate expectations, with futures currently implying around 122 basis points of easing for all of 2024, down from 145 basis points late last week.

In economic releases, industrial production figures from Germany, U.K. Halifax house price data and a report on the U.S. trade deficit may garner investor attention later in the day.

Asian stocks traded mostly higher, with China's Shanghai Composite rising nearly 1 percent amid hopes that policymakers and regulators will unveil more effective measures to sustain a nascent market recovery.

Gold held steady as a modest downtick in the U.S. bond yields undermined the dollar. Oil prices traded higher for a third consecutive session after the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said it expects U.S. output to remain largely steady through 2025, easing worries of excess supply.

Traders await cues from official inventory data after industry data showed a smaller-than-expected build in U.S. crude stocks.

U.S. stocks eked out modest gains overnight as investors digested the latest batch of earnings and comments from a slew of Fed officials.

The Dow edged up 0.4 percent, the S&P 500 inched up 0.2 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished marginally higher.

European stocks closed on a firm note Tuesday as new regional data suggested that economic headwinds in Europe may not be as bad as feared.

The pan European STOXX 600 climbed 0.6 percent. The German DAX gained 0.8 percent, France's CAC 40 added 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 advanced 0.9 percent.