European Shares Poised For Positive Opening

European stocks look set to open broadly higher on Tuesday as investors await earnings from some of the largest U.S. banks, given spikes in Covid-19 cases and troubled vaccine rollouts in parts of the world.

JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo will unveil their earnings reports on Wednesday, while Bank of America and Citigroup will announce their results on Thursday.

U.S. bond yields and the dollar ticked up after the Treasury’s sales of three- and 10-year notes attracted decent demand.

The U.S. will sell $24 billion of 30-year bonds later today and a total of $151 billion in bills throughout the week.

U.S. inflation data for March is due to be published later today. Economic Club of Washington hosts Fed Chair Jerome Powell for a moderated Q&A on Wednesday.

Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren said Monday he expects the economy to grow rapidly this year due to looser monetary and fiscal policies, though a full recovery could take longer than many think.

With inflation still below the central bank’s 2 percent target rate, the current “highly accommodative” monetary policy stance remained appropriate, he said.

Asian markets gained ground as data showed China’s imports and exports continued their strong rebound in March, signaling an improvement in global demand. Chinese economic growth, industrial production and retail sales figures will be out on Friday.

Closer home, monthly GDP, foreign trade and industrial production data from the U.K. are due later in the session, headlining a busy day for the European economic news.

U.S. stocks fell overnight as investors waited for cues from bond sales, earnings and crucial economic data due out this week.

The Dow edged down 0.2 percent, the S&P 500 finished marginally lower and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 0.4 percent.

European stocks ended Monday’s session broadly lower as investors reacted to negative coronavirus developments.

The pan European Stoxx 600 gave up half a percent. The German DAX and France’s CAC 40 index both slipped around 0.1 percent while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.4 percent.

Business News