European stocks opened slightly lower Tuesday morning, after weaker-than-expected data in China underscored lingering concerns about the global economy.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down around 0.2% shortly after the opening bell, with most sectors and major bourses in negative territory.
Official and private business surveys published Tuesday showed the manufacturing sector in the world’s second-largest economy expanded at a slower pace than analysts had expected in April. The weak data, which also showed a slower rate of growth in Beijing’s services sector, added to economic uncertainty.
In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares, excluding Japan, slipped around 0.7%. Japan’s financial markets are closed for a long national holiday this week.
Stateside, the U.S. central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is due to announce its latest monetary policy decision on Wednesday. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold interest rates steady, as it seeks to balance robust economic growth against low inflation.
Back in Europe, the euro zone is scheduled to publish a flash reading of first-quarter GDP (gross domestic product) at around 10:00 a.m. London time.
Germany, France, Spain and Italy are also set to release preliminary annualized inflation data for April.
In corporate news, Airbus, BP, and Lufthansa are among some of the companies expected to publish their latest quarterly results during morning trade.
Source: CNBC
