European stocks may open lower on Tuesday as investors react to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s more hawkish tone on monetary policy.<\/p>\n
A dollar gauge advanced and Treasuries extended losses in the wake of Powell’s comments suggesting that the U.S. central bank is prepared to raise interest rates by a half percentage-point at the next policy meeting if needed.<\/p>\n
Oil extended gains, with Brent crude prices rallying towards $120 a barrel, after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said no agreements were reached in Ukraine negotiations.<\/p>\n
After U.S. President Joe Biden branded Russian leader Vladimir Putin a “war criminal”, Russia said relations are “on the verge of rupture.”<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, after having imposed hefty measures against Russia, the EU and allies will decided this week on whether and how to slap sanctions on Russia’s lucrative energy sector. <\/p>\n
Asian markets<\/span> were mostly higher after China’s cabinet pledged stronger policy support for the economy<\/span> but cautioned against flooding the market with liquidity. <\/p>\n U.S. stocks fell overnight after Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled openness to raising interest rates aggressively this year to tame inflation, leading to speculation of a potential 50 bps move at any of the upcoming meetings.<\/p>\n The Dow shed 0.6 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.4 percent while the S&P 500 edged down marginally.<\/p>\n European stocks ended Monday’s session on a mixed note, as higher oil prices as well as reports about Omicron BA.2 fueling a massive Covid surge in parts of Europe and Asia prompted traders to cash in on last week’s gains.<\/p>\n The pan European Stoxx 600 closed flat with a positive bias. The German DAX and France’s CAC 40 index both fell around 0.6 percent while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 gained half a percent. <\/p>\n