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Investing.com – European stock markets are expected to open lower Thursday, amid concerns of the U.S. Federal Reserve tapering its bond-buying program this year, even as the world economy loses momentum.
At 2:05 AM ET (0605 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.3% lower, CAC 40 futures in France dropped 1.1% and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. fell 0.9%.
European markets have received a weak handover from Wall Street, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 falling over 1%, after the minutes of the July Federal Reserve meeting showed that most policymakers believe it could be appropriate for the central bank to start reducing bond purchases this year.
Concerns are growing that the reining in of the Fed’s pandemic-era stimulus measures could occur just as the global economic recovery is showing signs of stalling, as countries take measures to combat the spread of the delta variant of the Covid-19 virus.
Also weighing has been more weakness in Asia amid continued concerns over the Chinese government’s regulatory crackdown on the tech industry.
Back in Europe, AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) could be in the spotlight after the chief executive of the drug maker, Pascal Soriot, was named Britain’s highest paid company boss in 2020, despite criticism of his handling of the pandemic response. The company was the only one of the major drugmakers to agree to sell its Covid-19 vaccine at cost price, but poor communications during the drug’s development, manufacturing bottlenecks and a slightly lower efficacy than some rival vaccines have caused the company significant reputational damage.
Also, NN Group (NASDAQ:NNBR) will also be in focus after investment bank Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) said Thursday it will buy NNIP, the Dutch insurer’s investment arm, for just under $2 billion.
There’s little in the way of tier one economic data in Europe Thursday, so most eyes will be on the release of the weekly jobless claims data in the U.S., an important guide on the state of the country’s labor market.
Elsewhere, oil prices fell Thursday, as a surprise increase in U.S. gasoline inventories suggested the spread of the delta coronavirus variant was weighing on fuel demand.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported late Wednesday a draw in crude oil supplies of over 3 million barrels in the week to Aug. 13, but it was the 696,000-barrel build in gasoline supplies, the first increase in more than a month, that had the biggest impact on sentiment.
By 2:05 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 1.9% lower at $63.95 a barrel, falling below $65 for the first time since May, while the Brent contract fell 1.7% to $67.09.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,779.15/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.3% lower at 1.1675.
