European stocks may open higher on Wednesday, even as the upside may remain capped ahead of the Federal Reserve’s rate decision later in the day.<\/p>\n
The U.S. central bank is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but traders will pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.<\/p>\n
At the press conference following the rate decision, Chair Jerome Powell may reiterate that the Fed is ‘proceeding carefully’ and another rate hike is still an option based on incoming data. <\/p>\n
U.S. reports on manufacturing activity, construction spending and job openings will also be in the spotlight as recession fears swirl. <\/p>\n
Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ survey data and Nationwide house price figures from the U.K. are due later in the session headlining a light day for the European economic news. <\/p>\n
A private survey showed earlier today that China’s manufacturing PMI fell to 49.5 in October from 50.6 in September.<\/p>\n
Asian markets<\/span> were seeing broad-based gains, with Japan’s Nikkei rallying more than 2 percent as the yen hovered near a one-year low in the wake of the Bank of Japan’s decision to tweak its bond yield control policy again on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The dollar traded firm on safe-haven demand after Israeli airstrikes hit a densely populated refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing at least 50 Palestinians and a Hamas commander.<\/p>\n U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel today and make other stops in the region, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.<\/p>\n Gold slipped ahead of the Fed decision while oil edged up slightly after plunging more than 5 percent in the first two days of the week on demand concerns. <\/p>\n Overnight, U.S. stocks ended higher but logged losses for a third straight month on concerns about interest rates and Middle East tensions.<\/p>\n In economic releases, employment costs unexpectedly accelerated in the third quarter, while consumer confidence declined for a third straight month in October, separate reports showed.<\/p>\n The Dow edged up 0.4 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added half a percent and the S&P 500 climbed 0.7 percent after the U.S. Treasury cut its estimate of how much the government would need to borrow in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n Likewise, European stocks rose on Tuesday, but suffered their biggest monthly loss in about a year.<\/p>\n The pan European STOXX 600 advanced 0.6 percent. The German DAX rose 0.6 percent and France’s CAC 40 jumped 0.9 percent while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 finished marginally lower. <\/p>\n