European stock futures higher; Powell boosts sentiment ahead of BOE decision
Investing.com — European stock markets are expected to open higher Thursday, following strong gains on Wall Street on rising hopes that the Federal Reserve has completed its run of interest rate hikes.
At 03:00 ET (07:00 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.6% higher, CAC 40 futures in France climbed 0.6% and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. rose 0.2%.
European equities are set to follow the positive lead on Wall Street overnight, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gaining 1.6%, after investors became increasingly confident the next move in U.S. interest rates will be down, not up in the wake of the latest policy-setting meeting from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The Fed kept rates steady on Wednesday, as widely expected, and while Chair Jerome Powell maintained the option of another hike, his comments suggested he was less than committed to the idea.
Risks were now «more two sided» and almost «balanced», he said in his press conference, and expectations of inflation «were in a good place».
Back in Europe, it’s the turn of the Bank of England to announce its latest monetary policy decision later in the session.
This central bank is widely expected to follow the European Central Bank and the Fed in keeping interest rates unchanged at their 15-year high this month, but it still has to battle an inflation rate that came in at 6.7% in September, more than three times its target.
The European data slate includes German unemployment data for October, as well as manufacturing PMI numbers for many European countries and the eurozone as a whole.
In corporate news, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), the world’s biggest company by market capitalization, is due to release its latest earnings after the U.S. market closes.
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