By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - European stock markets are expected to open in a mixed fashion Thursday, as political tensions over a missile strike on Poland eased ahead of the latest U.K. fiscal statement and the release of key Eurozone inflation data.
At 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.4% higher, CAC 40 futures in France climbed 0.2%, while the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. fell 0.1%.
The circumstances surrounding the missile blast affecting a village in Poland close to the frontier with Ukraine late Tuesday remained uncertain, but NATO officials appear to have cleared Russia from immediate blame, easing fears that the war between Russia and Ukraine was set to escalate into the territory of the Western alliance.
"From the information that we and our allies have, it was an S-300 rocket made in the Soviet Union, an old rocket and there is no evidence that it was launched by the Russian side," Polish President Andrzej Duda said late Wednesday. "It is highly probable that it was fired by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defence."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has disputed this summary, but it’s clear that the finger of blame for this incident is not being pointed at Moscow.
Elsewhere, attention is likely to be on the U.K. Chancellor's Autumn Statement later in the session, with hefty tax hikes and spending cuts on the menu as the government tries to plug a substantial fiscal ‘black hole’, only made worse by Downing Street's last effort at a mini-budget.
Turning to the economic data slate, the highlight in Europe Thursday is the latest release of the CPI figure for the Eurozone for October, which is expected to be confirmed at an annual rise of 10.7%, up 1.5% on the month.
Turning to the corporate sector, Siemens (ETR:SIEGn) posted a better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit at its industrial business, with the German engineering and technology group adding that strong demand continued for its factory hardware and software.
Thyssenkrupp (ETR:TKAG) proposed a dividend for the past financial year earlier Thursday, its first payout in four years, on the back of strong price increases for steel and materials.
Oil prices fell Thursday as geopolitical concerns eased after NATO officials cleared Russia from blame for the missile attack on Poland, easing fears of the war between Russian and Ukraine broadening.
Data released Wednesday from the Energy Information Administration showed that crude stocks in the United States, the world's biggest oil consumer, fell by 5.4 million barrels last week, largely matching the previous day’s release from the industry body, the American Petroleum Institute.
However, inventories of gasoline and distillate fuels both rose by more than expected, leaving an unclear picture.
By 02:00 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 1% lower at $84.73 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 0.7% to $92.20.
Additionally, gold futures fell 0.3% to $1,769.70/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% lower at 1.0379.