European Shares Seen Opening Little Changed Amid BoE Speculation

(RTTNews) - European stocks are seen opening on a flat note Wednesday after five consecutive sessions of losses.

Recession worries persist with U.S. President Joe Biden conceding Tuesday in an interview that a "very slight" recession was possible.

U.S. stock futures jumped, the dollar gave up early gains and the British pound strengthened after a Financial Times report indicated the Bank of England had signaled privately to bankers that it could extend its emergency bond buying program beyond its Oct. 14 deadline.

Asian markets traded mixed, with Chinese and Hong Kong stocks leading regional losses, after authorities vowed to stick with a controversial pandemic strategy.

Little support was seen from central bank data showing that new bank lending in China nearly doubled in September from the previous month.

Oil extended losses for a third day, though the downside remained capped after Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened further missile attacks on Ukraine.

Gold inched lower, the U.S. dollar scaled fresh 24-year highs against the Japanese yen and benchmark 10-year Treasury yields held steady, as investors await U.S. inflation data and minutes from the Fed's September meeting due this week for clues on the pace of future interest rate hikes.

Monthly GDP, industrial production and foreign trade reports from the U.K. are due later in the session, headlining a light day for the European economic news.

U.S. stocks fluctuated before ending mostly lower overnight, as the IMF warned of slowing growth and the Bank of England ruled out extending its emergency intervention in Britain's bond market into next week.

The Dow inched up 0.1 percent while the S&P 500 shed 0.7 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1.1 percent.

European stocks declined for the fifth day running on Tuesday as investors assessed risks to corporate earnings and economic growth from rising interest rates, escalating geopolitical tensions and climbing COVID cases across China.

The pan European Stoxx 600 gave up 0.6 percent. The German DAX slipped 0.4 percent, France's CAC 40 index eased 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE fell 1.1 percent.