BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - European markets look headed for a negative start on Tuesday, as investors are likely to stay wary of building up positions amid persisting worries about trade tensions and losses posted by technology stocks on Wall Street overnight.
Markets will be tracking economic data and news related to trade and Brexit for direction.
According to reports, U.S. President Donald Trump is likely to demand U.K. Primer Minister Theresa May's successor to impose a ban on China's Huawei from 5G netorks.
Meanwhile, a trade agreement between the U.S. and China continues to remain elusive with the two countries blaming each other for the delay.
Tech stocks declined sharply on Wall Street yesterday on reports of antitrust investigations involving several big-name companies.
Global economic growth has slowed substantially due to escalating trade tensions. St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said on Monday that a reduction in interest rates 'may be warranted soon.'
In corporate news, French stock Bouygues will be in focus after the company reported a 14% rise in first-quarter operating profit, driven by large infrastructure contracts and healthy margins at its telecoms unit.
AXA Asia Pacific Ltd, a unit of French insurer AXA SA, said it would buy the financial planning business of Challenger Financial Group Ltd for $95 million and in exchange for AXA's annuity portfolio.
On the economic front, data on Sweden's industrial production for the month of April, is due at 3.30 AM ET. In March, production had decreased 1.3% annually.
At 4.00 am ET, Italy's statistical office Istat releases unemployment data. Economists forecast the jobless rate to rise slightly to 10.3% in April from 10.2% in March.
Poland's consumer price data is also due at 4.00 am ET.
At 4.30 am ET, UK Markit/CIPS construction Purchasing Managers' survey results are due. The construction PMI is forecast to rise marginally to 50.6 in May from 50.5 in April.
At 5.00 am ET, Eurostat releases euro area flash inflation and unemployment reports. Flash inflation is seen falling to 1.5% in May from 1.7% in April.
Economists expect eurozone jobless rate to come in unchanged at 7.7%.
On Monday, European stocks ended higher after a volatile session. The Stoxx 600 ended up by 0.39%. France and Germany ended notably higher, with their benchmarks CAC 40 and DAX gaining 0.65% and 0.56%, respectively. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended 0.32% up. Switzerland's SMI climbed up 0.94%.
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