European Shares Seen Tad Lower At Open

(RTTNews) - European stocks may open a tad lower on Wednesday as investors await the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision as well as earnings from the five "Magnificent Seven" companies for direction.

The Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by another quarter point later today, but traders will be looking to the accompanying statement and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-meeting comments for clues about the likelihood of further rate cuts.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicates a 90.8 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by another quarter point in December.

On the earnings front, Alphabet, Meta Platforms and Microsoft are set to report after the closing bell later today, while Apple and Amazon are due to report on Thursday.

Asian markets were broadly higher following upbeat news from Nvidia and Microsoft, and ahead of Thursday's high stakes meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and his counterpart Xi Jinping in South Korea.

The U.S. dollar steadied after recent gains while gold edged up slightly after its recent sharp fall.

Oil was subdued, extending losses for a fourth day running as investors weighed the impact of potential OPEC+ plan to raise output on global supply.

Today's European economic calendar remains light, with mortgage approvals data from the U.K. likely to garner some attention.

Overnight, U.S. stocks fluctuated before closing at fresh record highs for a second day in a row due to Fed rate cut expectations and signs of easing U.S.-China trade tensions.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. would roll back some tariffs on China if Beijing cracks down on the shipment of ingredients that make fentanyl.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 0.8 percent, boosted by a series of artificial intelligence (AI) deals. The Dow gained 0.3 percent and the S&P 500 added 0.2 percent.

European stocks settled mostly lower on Tuesday after reaching record peaks in the previous session.

The pan European Stoxx 600 dipped 0.2 percent after a measure of German consumer confidence fell to its lowest level since April.

The German DAX slipped 0.1 percent and France's CAC 40 shed 0.3 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 0.4 percent.