European Shares Seen Tad Lower At Open

European stocks are set to open a tad lower on Tuesday as investors watch the latest developments on Russia-Ukraine war and react to Chinese economic data.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced countersanctions and the country’s central bank introduced some capital controls to try and stem a ruble plunge, as the Kremlin raised the specter of nuclear war for the second day in a row.

Moscow is facing increased isolation as the Russian military assault on Ukraine went into its sixth day.

The Biden administration said Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Japan, European Union and others will join the U.S. in hitting Russia’s central bank.

Asian markets advanced as investors cheered positive manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMIs from China.

Gold managed to sustain above $1,900 per ounce while oil prices rose about 1 percent despite reports the U.S. and its allies are discussing a coordinated release of about 60 million barrels of oil from their emergency stockpiles.

Meanwhile, investors pared rate hike bets, with Fed funds futures traders pricing in a rate hike of 25 basis points at the Fed’s meeting on March 15-16. The Bank of England is also expected to lift rates by 25 bps in March.

U.S. stocks ended a highly volatile session on a mixed note overnight amid an escalation in Russia-Ukraine conflict, rising oil prices and broader inflationary pressures.

The Dow dipped half a percent and the S&P 500 slid 0.2 percent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.4 percent.

European stocks ended off their day’s lows on Monday as Russian and Ukrainian officials held talks near the Belarusian border.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended flat with a negative bias. The German DAX shed 0.7 percent, France’s CAC 40 index fell 1.4 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 eased 0.4 percent.

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