FX.co ★ European Stocks Set for Lower Open

European equity markets were poised to open lower on Thursday, extending their recent declines even as global stocks rallied after the US Treasury Department announced plans to at least double the size of its bond buyback program, pushing Treasury yields sharply lower.

Investors in Europe also remained attentive to rising oil prices amid heightened geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East, with tensions between the US and Iran still unresolved.

On the data front, market participants will scrutinize Germany’s producer price index (PPI) figures and the European Central Bank’s latest Monetary Policy Meeting Accounts, following the ECB’s decision in July to leave key interest rates unchanged. Meanwhile, no major corporate earnings releases are expected in Europe today.

In premarket trading, futures on both the Euro Stoxx 50 and the Stoxx 600 were down about 0.1%.