Peter Nurse 

Investing.com – European stock markets are expected to open just higher Tuesday, helped by strength in the heavyweight energy sector, but gains are likely to be restrained following the previous session’s broad selloff on Wall Street.

The German contract traded 0.1% higher at 02:05 GMT (0605 GMT) while in France the contract rose 0.2%. In the U.K, the contract rose 0.3%.

However, there is a positive sign for Europe despite Wall Street’s losses. Tech-heavy Wall Street fell over 2% Monday due to higher Treasury yields and the ongoing standoff regarding the U.S. debt limit. 

Tech weakness nonetheless translated to selling in Asia, with Japan’s falling more than 2%, while markets in mainland China remain closed. 

The important European energy sector will see an increase in demand as the price of crude oil rises to multi-year highs. This is despite the fact that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) and its allies, led by Russia decided to keep increasing production slowly despite recovering demand as the Delta-variant Covid-19 wave ebbs. Johns Hopkins data shows that global case numbers fell to their lowest level in almost two months Monday.

OPEC+ did not respond to requests from a few countries, such as the U.S.A. and India which were the third and largest global consumers.

At 2 AM ET futures had traded 0.1% higher to $77.64/barrel, and the contract gained 0.1%, reaching $81.30. WTI hit a 7-year high, while Brent reached a 3-year peak. Both futures gained over 2% Monday.

Swiss Re (OTC) is likely to be the focus of corporate news after it estimated Tuesday that its initial claims burden due to Hurricane Ida was $750million. It also updated its estimate for its July flooding loss at approximately $520million. Greggs, a British bakery chain, will be the focus of attention in the United Kingdom after it raised its profit forecast for full-year despite rising costs.

According to preliminary data released Tuesday by the industry, 35% of British car registrations last month fell year-on-year. This was the lowest September in at least 23 year.

Other economic data due Tuesday will be released include the most recent readings and final PMI data from the European region.

The price of gold fell 0.5% to $1758.55/oz while it traded 0.2% higher at 1.1595