European Shares Seen Lower At Open As Investors Await Fed Decision

European stocks may drift lower at open on Wednesday as the highly anticipated Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision looms.

The Fed is widely expected to lower rates by another quarter point later today, with traders likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement as well as officials’ updated economic projections, including their forecasts for rates.

Expectations of multiple reductions next year are fading amid a resilient labor market and stubborn inflation.

The Bank of Japan and Bank of England are also holding their final policy meetings of 2024 this week, with both expected to leave their key policy rates unchanged.

Rather than the rate decisions, markets are likely to focus on the underlying messages for additional clues on the inflation and economic outlooks for next year in the wake of expected changes in the U.S. under the incoming Trump administration.

In economic releases, consumer and producer price data as well as house price figures from the U.K. are due later in the day.

Eurostat is slated to release euro area final consumer prices for November. The statistical office is expected to confirm 2.3 percent inflation for November, from 2.0 percent in October.

Asian markets traded mixed and the yen struggled to capitalize on the previous day’s modest recovery, while oil and gold prices fluctuated in a narrow range.

The Canadian dollar slid to its lowest level since March 2020 as investors react to dovish remarks from the Bank of Canada (BoC) Governor Tiff Macklem and domestic political uncertainty.

Elsewhere in Brazil, the country took extraordinary measures Tuesday to stem a collapse in its currency, selling over $3 billion in local markets.

U.S. stocks ended lower overnight as data showing stronger than expected retail sales growth in November added to the debate about the Fed’s policy path for 2025.

The Dow fell 0.6 percent to close lower for the ninth straight session, logging its longest losing streak since 1978.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gave up 0.3 percent and the S&P 500 declined 0.4 percent.

European stocks fell broadly on Tuesday amid political upheavals in Germany and France.

The pan European STOXX 600 dropped 0.4 percent. The German DAX dipped 0.3 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 lost 0.8 percent while France’s CAC 40 finished 0.1 percent higher.