European stock futures mixed; weak sentiment helped by tech earnings

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Investing.com - European stock markets are expected to open mixed Wednesday, with banking worries returning to the fore even after strong earnings from a couple of U.S. tech giants.

At 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.4% lower, the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. fell 0.2%, while CAC 40 futures in France climbed 0.3%.

Swiss lender UBS (SIX:UBSG) and Spain’s Santander (BME:SAN), the eurozone’s second-biggest lender in terms of market value, disappointed the markets with their quarterly earnings results on Tuesday.

Across the pond, First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) stock slumped after revealing $100 billion in customer withdrawals last month, fueling concerns for the whole U.S. regional banking sector. 

Back in Europe, U.K. lender Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) is scheduled to release its numbers Wednesday, paving the way for earnings from the likes of HSBC (LON:HSBA), Lloyds (LON:LLOY) and NatWest Group (LON:NWG), all of which are due to report earnings in the coming weeks.

Away from the financial sector, Danone (EPA:DANO) raised its 2023 sales growth outlook after it reported higher-than-expected first-quarter revenue on Wednesday, with the foods company able to raise prices in the face of high raw materials and energy costs.

Swiss healthcare company Roche (SIX:RO) reported a 7% drop in first-quarter sales on falling demand for its COVID-19 therapies and diagnostics kits.

Earnings are also scheduled Wednesday from the likes of Deutsche Boerse (ETR:DB1Gn), Man Group (LON:EMG) and Dassault Systemes (EPA:DAST).

Equity markets had received a boost overnight as first-quarter results from U.S. tech giants Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Google owner Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), released after the closing bell on Wall Street, beat market expectations.

On the economic data front, the forward-looking German GfK consumer sentiment index came in at -25.7 for May, an improvement from the revised prior reading of -29.3. 

There are also a number of ECB policymakers scheduled to speak later in the session, including Andrea Enria, Kerstin af Jochnick and Luis De Guindos, who could offer clues as to the future path of the central bank’s monetary policy.

The European Central Bank is widely expected to lift interest rates again in early May, with the main open question being the size of the move, a quarter- or a half-point step.

Oil prices rose Wednesday, bouncing after the previous session’s sharp losses, after falling U.S. fuel inventories pointed to resilient demand in the world’s largest oil consumer. 

Data from the American Petroleum Institute, released late Tuesday, showed that U.S. crude inventories fell by just over 6 million barrels last week, more than the expected 1.7 million barrels, while gasoline inventories fell 1.9 million barrels.

By 02:00 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.9% higher at $77.77 a barrel, while the Brent contract climbed 0.8% to $81.24.

Both benchmarks dropped more than 2% on Tuesday, falling to levels seen before the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, a group known as OPEC+, announced an additional output reduction to start in May. 

Additionally, gold futures rose 0.1% to $2,004.95/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.0987.