VIENNA (dpa-AFX) - European stock futures are slightly higher, indicating a firmer open on Tuesday despite an insipid performance on Wall Street overnight and mixed Asian cues.
The Asian markets are turning in a mixed performance, giving up some of their early gains, as China's credit growth trailed analysts' estimates in February and the Bank of Japan refrained from additional action on the stimulus front, saying Japan's economy has continued to recover moderately.
The U.S. economic calendar remains once again light today, with the Commerce Department scheduled to release its monthly report on wholesale inventories later in the day.
Closer home, retail sales in the United Kingdom grew at a significantly slower pace in February, as poor weather took its toll on consumer spending, survey data published by the British Retail Consortium and KPMG revealed. Total retail sales increased 0.7 percent in February from a year earlier, much weaker than the 5.4 percent gain seen in January. On a like-for-like basis, retail trade decreased 1 percent annually in the month after rising 3.9 percent in January.
German trade and U.K. industrial production data for January as well as Swiss industrial production figures for the fourth quarter are slated for release later in the European session. Economists expect German exports to grow 1.5 percent in January from the previous month, while U.K. industrial output is forecast to grow 0.2 percent on a monthly basis in January after rising 0.4 percent a month ago.
In news out of Ukraine, Russia refused to accept the 'fait accompli' of the new Western-backed government in Ukraine and said that it is drafting counterproposals to a U.S. plan for a negotiated solution to the Ukraine crisis on the basis of international law and taking into account the interests of all Ukrainians without exception.
Commodities are trading mixed and the U.S. dollar is barely changed after Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said the Federal Reserve will continue to trim its monthly asset purchase program at each upcoming meetings, including the next policy meeting on March 18-19.
In domestic corporate news, global demand for iron ore will continue to grow, though likely at a more moderate rate, BHP Billiton's iron ore president Jimmy Wilson told a conference in Perth.
Geberit AG, a Swiss provider of sanitary technology, said it has earned higher net income of 75.1 million Swiss francs in the fourth quarter, versus 63.9 million francs a year back.
Tecan Group AG announced a 7.8 percent rise in its full-year net profit to 45.7 million Swiss francs from 42.4 million francs last year.
Dutch supermarket chain Koninklijke Ahold NV has agreed to acquire SPAR's business in the Czech Republic for an enterprise value of CZK 5.245 billion.
The European markets turned in a mixed performance on Monday as surprisingly weak Chinese export data weighed on the mining sector. The German DAX dropped 0.9 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index lost 0.4 percent, while France's CAC 40 index inched up marginally.
U.S. stocks drifted lower but still ended well off their lows overnight as traders showed a lack of conviction amid a relatively quiet day for corporate and economic news. Disappointing economic reports from China and Japan and fears that the conflict over Ukraine could escalate also put investors on the defensive. The Dow slid 0.2 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq slipped about 0.1 percent each.
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