European stocks slip; caution ahead of key inflation data

Investing.com - European stock markets traded lower Tuesday, continuing to trade in a subdued manner ahead of the release of the week’s key inflation data. 

At 03:05 ET (08:05 GMT), the DAX index in Germany traded 0.3% lower, the CAC 40 in France traded down 0.5% and the FTSE 100 in the U.K. fell 0.4%.

Risk sentiment received a boost this month after data releases hinted at easing inflation, stoking expectations that central banks had reached their interest rate peaks.

However, central bankers have been keen to express caution that the fight to contain price growth is not yet done.

"This is not the time to start declaring victory," European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde told a meeting of EU lawmakers in Brussels on Monday. "We need to remain attentive to the different forces affecting inflation and firmly focused on our mandate of price stability."

EU inflation due Thursday

This puts the focus firmly on the release of a number of important economic numbers later this week, and this is likely to keep stock market activity subdued in the early part of this week.

Data on EU inflation is due on Thursday, along with measures for Germany and Spain. Core EU inflation is forecast at 3.9%, the lowest since the middle of last year.

The Federal Reserve's favoured measure of inflation - personal consumption expenditures - is also due on Thursday, as are key purchasing managers index readings from China for November. 

EasyJet warns of quarterly loss

Ahead of this, German consumer sentiment is set to remain weak in December, with the forward-looking GfK consumer climate index coming in at -27.8 points, a slight improvement from the revised -28.3 seen the previous month.

French consumer confidence also edged higher Tuesday, climbing to 87 in November from 84 the prior month.  

In the corporate sector, easyJet (LON:EZJ) stock rose around 2% after the budget airline posted a record second-half profit of £455 million in the six months to 30 September, thanks to a strong rebound of holiday travel over the summer.

That said, the carrier warned that it was set to make a loss of about £133 million in the final quarter of the year as the conflict in the Middle East hit travel.

Crude rises on hopes of OPEC+ output cuts

Oil prices edged higher Tuesday amid hopes that OPEC+ will agree to extend or even deepen its ongoing production cuts at a meeting later this week. 

By 03:05 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 0.1% higher at $74.93 a barrel, while the Brent contract climbed 0.2% to $80.00 a barrel. 

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, a group known as OPEC+, is set to hold an online ministerial meeting on Thursday to discuss production targets for 2024. 

The meeting was delayed from Sunday after disagreements between members over production targets, but the group's de facto leader Saudi Arabia has seemingly worked to find consensus on the need to deepen output cuts.

There has been a sharp decline in oil prices over the last month, due to concerns that the market was oversupplied, largely based on strong production by non-OPEC countries such as the United States.

Additionally, gold futures traded largely flat at $2,012.40/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% lower at 1.0939.