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European stocks may open a tad higher on Thursday as investors react to the Fed policy decision overnight and await further direction from the ECB rate announcement later in the day. <\/p>\n
Overnight, the Fed showed reluctance to alter its hawkish stance until there is progress in reducing price pressures. <\/p>\n
The European Central Bank looks all but certain to hike the deposit rate by 25 bps but there is considerable uncertainty about the central bank’s guidance for September’s monetary policy. <\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the Bank of Japan’s policy decision is due on Friday, with traders looking for any hints of a shift in its yield-curve control policy.<\/p>\n
Trading later in the day may be impacted by reaction to U.S. reports on second quarter GDP, durable goods orders, initial jobless claims and pending home sales.<\/p>\n
On the earnings front, shares of Facebook parent Meta Platforms soared more than seven percent in after-market trades after the company predicted an upbeat third-quarter revenue fueled by digital advertising growth and an improving economic environment. <\/p>\n
Comcast, McDonald’s and Honeywell are among the prominent U.S. companies that will unveil their quarterly earnings results before the U.S. opening bell later today. <\/p>\n
Asian stocks traded mostly higher as a positive outlook from Samsung Electronics boosted technology<\/span> stocks in the region. <\/p>\n There was also some cheer on the data front, with China’s industrial profits showing a slight recovery through June. <\/p>\n Gold benefited from a weaker dollar and falling Treasury yields, while oil prices rose about 1 percent after ending notably lower overnight on data showing a much smaller than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories in the week ended July 21st.<\/p>\n Overnight, U.S. stocks saw wild swings before ending narrowly mixed after the Federal Reserve announced a 25-bps rate hike and left the door open for future hikes.<\/p>\n In his post-meeting press conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell noted that a rate cut is unlikely this year and the central bank will make decisions meeting by meeting after watching incoming economic data.<\/p>\n The Dow edged up 0.2 percent to extend its winning streak to 13 sessions, while the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished marginally lower.<\/p>\n European stocks closed firmly in the red on Wednesday as investors reacted to a mixed batch of corporate earnings and awaited the Fed move on rates.<\/p>\n The pan European STOXX 600 gave up half a percent. The German DAX dropped half a percent, France’s CAC 40 lost 1.4 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.2 percent. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Market Analysis<\/p>\n<\/div>\n