Investing.com - European stock markets retreated Tuesday, tracking overnight weakness on Wall Street as investors reassessed the path of US interest rates as well as the Middle East conflict and regional economic weakness.
At 03:05 ET (07:05 GMT), the DAX index in Germany traded 0.7% lower, the CAC 40 in France fell 1.2% and the FTSE 100 in the U.K. dropped 0.9%.
Weak lead from Wall Street
The main European indices have received a weak lead-in from Wall Street, after last week’s strong US jobs report prompted traders to rule out another outsized rate cut from the Federal Reserve at its next meeting in November.
Investors have also been disappointed by the return of Chinese markets after the mainland's week-long holiday, as sharp gains were quickly pared back as the lack of concrete stimulus measures by Beijing policymakers disappointed.
Before the Golden Week holiday, the Chinese government had rolled out a string of stimulus measures, including interest rate cuts, and investors had hoped for more earlier Tuesday.
German industrial production rises
Back in Europe, the economic calendar is relatively light for the day, although German industrial production rose 2.9% on the month in August, better than the 0.8% gain expected.
That said, this figure was still down 2.5% on an annual basis, and followed data released on Monday showing German factory orders slumped 5.8% on the month and eurozone retail sales gained only 0.2% on a monthly basis in August.
The European Central Bank meets next week, and is expected to ease policy once more having already cut rates twice this year as inflationary pressures have eased.
Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said Monday that he is open to considering another ECB interest rate cut at its meeting next week, as German economic growth in the second half would be weaker than expected.
Crude slips after strong gains
Oil prices fell Tuesday as traders banked some profits following a strong rally on the back of concerns that an all-out war in the Middle East will hit supplies from the oil-rich region.
By 03:05 ET, the Brent contract slipped 1.5% to $79.72 per barrel, while U.S. crude futures (WTI) traded 1.5% lower at $75.95 per barrel.
Both contracts rose over 3% on Monday to their highest levels since late August, adding to last week's rally of 8%, the biggest weekly gain in over a year.
Away from the Middle East, the latest U.S. crude oil inventory data, from the American Petroleum Institute, is due later in the session, with analysts expecting stocks to rise by 1.9 million barrels.