European Shares Seen Tad Lower After Wednesday's Rally

(RTTNews) - European stocks look set to open a tad lower on Thursday after seeing strong gains the previous day on optimism over easing inflationary pressures in the world's largest economy.

Traders are still betting on two interest-rate cuts in 2024 despite the Fed's projection for one rate cut this year.

Markets await more U.S. economic data for directional cues, with reports on producer prices and weekly jobless claims due later in the day.

Closer home, industrial production figures from the euro area and German wholesale price data are due later in the day.

Economists expect German wholesale prices to rise 0.3 percent on month in May, following a 0.4 percent gain in April.

Euro area industrial production is expected to rise 0.1 percent on month in April, following a 0.6 percent rise in March.

Asian markets traded mixed, with Chinese and Japanese stocks falling slightly after the announcement of new EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles starting next month.

The dollar edged higher in Asian trading, Treasuries steadied, and gold slipped toward $2,300 per ounce as investors weighed the higher-for-longer Fed rate outlook.

Oil snapped a three-day rally after data showed an unexpected build in U.S. crude stockpiles.

Overnight, U.S. stocks ended mostly higher as signs of falling inflation fueled bets the Fed will lower interest rates in coming months.

Data showed U.S. consumer prices rose 3.3 percent in the year to the end of May, down 0.1 percentage points from the month before.

Core prices grew at their slowest annual pace in over three years despite rents continuing to weigh on household budgets.

Meanwhile, after leaving rates on hold for the seventh consecutive meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged that inflation has eased substantially in recent months but remains too high.

The latest projections showed officials expect only one interest rate cut this year compared to the three forecast in March.

The accompanying dot plot indicated that more participants expect to cut twice than once, but no one expects to cut more than twice, while four don't expect to cut at all this year.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 1.5 percent and the S&P 500 rose 0.9 percent to reach new record closing highs while the Dow ended marginally lower, giving up early gains.

European stocks snapped a three-day losing streak Wednesday on expectations of a potential September rate cut by the Federal Reserve.

The pan European STOXX 600 climbed 1.1 percent. The German DAX rallied 1.4 percent, France's CAC 40 jumped 1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.8 percent.