By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - European stock markets are seen opening lower Tuesday, handing back some of the sharp gains made during the previous session as investors digest a fresh warning about the coronavirus.
At 2:05 AM ET (0705 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.6% lower, CAC 40 futures in France dropped 0.2% and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. fell 0.3%.
The number of new coronavirus infections globally rose last week for the first time in seven weeks, the World Health Organization said on Monday.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the rise in cases was "disappointing but not surprising", warning that it was too early for countries to rely solely on vaccination programmes and abandon other measures.
Many European countries remain in lockdown, but discussions are underway over the timing of when these restrictions are lifted.
Global equity markets posted hefty gains on Monday, helped by positive news about another Covid-19 vaccine as well as progress in the U.S. $1.9 trillion stimulus bill. In Europe, Germany's DAX, France’s CAC 40 and the FTSE 100 in the U.K. all closed 1.6% higher.
That said, investors continue to debate whether many markets are over-extended following huge stimulus injections to counter the impact of the pandemic. The prospect of faster inflation as the world economy recovers has led to concerns that monetary policy may have to be tightened sooner than expected.
German retail sales fell sharply in January, dropping 4.5% on the month. This still represented something of an improvement from December’s sharp 9.1% drop, but was a lot weaker than had been expected.
German unemployment data and flash euro-zone inflation data for February are due later in the session
In corporate news, earnings come from the likes of Man Group (LON:EMG), Travis Perkins (LON:TPK) and Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW).
Oil prices weakened Tuesday, as traders turned their attention towards the upcoming meeting of the majority of the world’s top producers amid concerns they will sanction an increase in global supply.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, is due to meet on Thursday, and could discuss allowing as much as 1.5 million barrels per day of crude back into the market given the recent hefty price rises. The group is currently holding back some seven million barrels per day, or 7% of global supply, from the market.
Also of interest will be U.S. crude oil supply data from the American Petroleum Institute, due later in the session.
U.S. crude futures traded 0.9% lower at $60.11 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract fell 1% to $63.08.
Elsewhere, gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,720.25/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.2% lower at 1.2020.