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European stocks may open slightly lower on Wednesday after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent downplayed the possibility of a quick agreement with the European Union, saying the bloc suffers from a “collective action problem” that’s hampering trade negotiations.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the U.S. has slashed the “de minimis” tariff on low-value China shipments to 54 percent from 120 percent, marking another trade de-escalation. China has reportedly lifted its ban on Boeing (BA) plane deliveries.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to lift all sanctions against Syria after announcing a $142bn (\u00a3107bn) arms deal with Saudi Arabia. <\/p>\n
Asian stocks were mixed, with Hong Kong’s tech-heavy Hang Seng and South Korea’s Kospi average both rising over 1 percent while a stronger yen weighed on exporters in Japan. <\/p>\n
The dollar struggled for direction after a significant overnight decline.<\/p>\n
Gold fell below $3230 per ounce after rising in the previous session. Oil dipped but held near two-week highs on trade war reprieve.<\/p>\n
In economic releases, final inflation data from Germany and Spain are due later in the session.<\/p>\n
U.S. stocks ended mostly higher overnight as trade optimism prevailed and data showed consumer inflation rose less than expected in April.<\/p>\n
The U.S. CPI edged up by 0.2 percent in April, bringing the annual increase down to 2.3 percent from 2.4 percent.<\/p>\n
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.6 percent and the S&P 500 added 0.7 percent to reach their best closing levels in well over two months as Saudi Arabia announced AI development deals with four leading U.S. technology<\/span> firms, including chip companies NVIDIA and AMD. The narrower Dow shed 0.6 percent.<\/p>\n European stocks closed higher on Tuesday, with sentiment lifted by buoyant German investor sentiment report, the soft U.S. inflation reading and a truce in the Sino-U.S. trade spat.<\/p>\n The pan European STOXX 600 edged up by 0.1 percent, extending gains for a fourth day running.<\/p>\n The German DAX and France’s CAC 40 both rose by 0.3 percent while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 finished marginally lower. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Business News<\/p>\n<\/div>\n