European Shares Seen Opening Lower After Walmart Warning

(RTTNews) - European stocks may open flat to slightly lower on Tuesday after a profit warning from top U.S. retailer Walmart provided further evidence of a consumer spending pullback.

Walmart fell nearly 10 percent in after-hours trading after issuing its second profit warning in 10 weeks. Shares of rivals including Target, Costco and Home Depot also fell amid signs that Americans are reigning in spending amid surging inflation.

Asian markets traded mixed as investors prepared for a stacked week of corporate earnings and economic data in the United States.

Roughly one-third of S&P 500 companies are due to unveil their quarterly earnings this week, including tech giants like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Facebook parent Meta Platforms.

On the data front, investors look ahead to U.S. reports on consumer confidence, new home sales, durable goods orders, second quarter GDP and personal income and spending this week for any clues about whether hints of a slowing economy will prompt Fed officials to slow the pace of rate hikes.

Most analysts expect a hike between 75 to 100 basis points by the U.S. central bank at the end of a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday.

U.S. second-quarter GDP data is due on Thursday, with many watching for signs of a technical recession.

Gold prices were seeing modest gains in Asian trade, as benchmark 10-year Treasury yields fell on recession worries and the dollar hovered just below multi-decade peaks.

Oil prices rose over 1 percent to extend overnight gains on expectations that Russia's reduction in natural gas supply to Europe could encourage a switch to crude.

U.S. stocks ended mixed overnight as investors looked ahead to a busy week of earnings. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 0.4 percent, while the Dow edged up 0.3 percent and the S&P 500 inched up 0.1 percent.

European stocks also turned in a mixed performance on Monday amid fears about a global recession. The pan European Stoxx 600 rose 0.1 percent.

The German DAX fell 0.3 percent after the release of weak business confidence data while France's CAC 40 index gained 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 0.4 percent.