By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - European stock markets are seen opening largely unchanged Tuesday, with investors pausing to digest the news of President Donald Trump's to the White House and waiting for speeches from a series of central bankers.
At 2:15 AM ET (0605 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.1% lower, CAC 40 futures in France climbed 0.2% and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. was largely flat.
President Trump returned to the White House on Monday after a three-night hospital stay following treatment for Covid-19, likely removing an area of uncertainty ahead of next month's U.S. presidential election.
Focus in the market now turns to the health of the global economy as coronavirus cases continue to mount, with over 35 million affected globally, more than a million dead and some countries imposing new economic restrictions as daily case growth accelerates.
The world's top central bankers have offered up unparalleled levels of monetary largesse during the global pandemic, but markets will be looking for hints of more when top officials from the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of Japan speak Tuesday at a virtual meeting of the National Association for Business Economics.
Confidence is also growing that U.S. lawmakers can agree to a new stimulus package after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke by phone for about an hour on Monday. They are set to talk again Tuesday.
Back in Europe, German factory orders impressed in August, climbing by 4.5% on the month, ahead of the 2.6% growth expected, as the dominant manufacturing sector in Europe’s largest economy continues to recover from the coronavirus-inspired slowdown seen earlier in the year.
In corporate news, the airline sector may be in focus Tuesday after Deutsche Lufthansa's (DE:LHAG) CEO Carsten Spohr said Monday that the airline is still burning cash at a rate of 500 million euros ($590 million) per month and is far from breaking even.
Oil prices pushed higher Tuesday, maintaining Monday’s positive tone as hopes grow over a new U.S. economic stimulus package while another storm forms in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
A number of oil platforms have been evacuated in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico as Tropical Storm Delta heads toward Louisiana and Florida.
Data from the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday and the U.S. government on Wednesday will be studied to see whether demand is picking up.
U.S. crude futures traded 0.5% higher at $39.41 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract rose 0.5% to $41.50. Both benchmarks climbed more than 5% on Monday.
Elsewhere, gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,915.90/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.1787.