European Shares May See Soft Opening

(RTTNews) - European stocks may open on a sluggish note Wednesday as investors react to mixed earnings results from U.S. technology companies and look forward to next week's U.S. presidential election and Federal Reserve rate decision for direction.

Google parent Alphabet's earnings beat estimates as the company saw strong quarterly revenue growth from its cloud business.

On the other hand, chipmaker AMD's fourth-quarter revenue guidance failed to impress investors.

Meta Platforms and Microsoft are set to report their earnings later today, while Apple and Amazon are due to publish their results on Thursday.

Geopolitical tensions may also remain in focus after the European Union imposed higher tariffs peaking at 45 percent on electric vehicles from China, prompting an angry response from Beijing.

Investors remain apprehensive that proposed tariffs put forward by U.S. Presidential Candidate Donald Trump would lead to a reduction in GDP growth in the U.S., Europe and China.

A Trump victory may be on the horizon in the Nov. 5 presidential election, but most major polls currently show him locked in a tight race with Vice President Kamala Harris.

In economic releases, U.S. reports on private sector employment, third quarter GDP and pending home sales may garner attention later in the day.

Britain Prime Minister Keir Starmer's new government will unveil its first full budget today. Analysts expect the Autumn Budget to introduce key fiscal reforms, including tax changes and wage adjustments that could significantly impact the industry landscape.

The release of preliminary GDP estimates from the euro area and other European economies, Eurozone economic sentiment survey results and Germany's flash consumer price data for October may also influence market sentiment as the day progresses.

Asian markets were mostly lower, even as Japanese shares extended gains on uncertainty over BoJ rate hike prospects.

Treasury yields edged lower while gold climbed to a new record high due to U.S. election jitters and persisting Middle East tensions.

The dollar rally paused while oil crept higher after two previous sessions of losses. U.S. stocks ended mixed overnight ahead of earnings from big technology companies.

Economic reports painted a mixed picture, with job openings dropping to more than a 3-1/2-year low in September, while a measure of consumer confidence rose to a nine-month high.

The S&P 500 gained 0.2 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.8 percent to reach a new record closing high, while the Dow dipped 0.4 percent to close lower for the sixth time in the past seven sessions.

European stocks closed lower on Tuesday as earnings from heavyweights BP Plc and Novartis AG disappointed.

The pan European STOXX 600 declined 0.6 percent. The German DAX slid 0.3 percent, France's CAC 40 shed 0.6 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gave up 0.8 percent.