European Shares Seen Opening On Steady Note

(RTTNews) - European stocks are seen opening flat to slightly higher on Tuesday despite new concerns about the cohesion of the bloc.

Focus remains firmly on Wednesday's U.S. consumer price data and the Federal Reserve interest-rate decision.

The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but traders will pay closer attention to Fed officials' updated projections for the economy and rates.

After Friday's strong jobs report, markets are now pricing in just one rate cut this year, in November, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Ahead of the Fed announcement, the Labour Department is scheduled to release its report on consumer price inflation for May.

Economists currently expect consumer prices to inch up by 0.1 percent after an increase of 0.3 percent in April.

Core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, are expected to increase by 0.3 percent for the second straight month.

The annual rate of growth by consumer prices is expected to come in unchanged at 3.4 percent, but the annual rate of core consumer price growth is expected to slow to 3.5 percent in May from 3.6 percent in April.

Reports on producer prices, import and export prices and consumer sentiment and inflation expectations may also attract attention later in the week.

Closer home, Eurozone interest rates are likely to remain unchanged for some time as the European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said restrictive policy has not ended and the bank may wait several meetings before easing rates again.

Interest rates may not follow a linear downward path, Lagarde said in Paris in a joint interview to several European newspapers including Les Echos, Expansion, Il Sole 24 Ore and Handelsblatt.

Asian markets traded mixed, and the dollar held firm while gold slipped as U.S. rate cut bets faded.

Oil prices were marginally lower in Asian trading, after having jumped 3 percent to a one-week high on Monday on hopes of higher seasonal fuel demand and potential U.S. crude purchases for its petroleum reserve.

U.S. stocks eked out modest gains in cautious trade overnight as traders positioned themselves for upcoming inflation data and the Federal Reserve meeting.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.4 percent and the S&P 500 added 0.3 percent to reach new record closing highs while the Dow inched up 0.2 percent.

European stocks closed lower on Monday as a win for far-right parties in EU elections prompted a bruised French President Emmanuel Macron to call a snap parliamentary poll - fueling uncertainty in the bloc.

The pan European STOXX 600 dipped 0.3 percent. The German DAX slid 0.3 percent, France's CAC 40 lost 1.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 eased 0.2 percent.