Peter Nurse 

Investing.com: European stock markets will open lower on Wednesday due to concerns that high inflation and rising energy prices, combined with slowing economic growth, could lead to a slower opening of European stock exchanges. This is just as the central banks begin to withdraw their monetary support.

2.15 AM ET, 0615 GMT: The German contract traded 0.7% lower while France’s contract fell 0.9%. While the U.K contract was 0.8% lower at the same time, it dropped 0.9% in France.

More disappointing economic news was reported Wednesday. The, which is a typically reliable indicator of the trends in Europe’s largest economy, dropped 7.7% in August. This markedly lower than July’s 4.9% gain. 

European investors were already receiving a weak handover in Asia. After increasing interest rates seven times in seven year, in an effort to keep inflation under control, the Asian central banks raised them again. It was a sign that further tightening was on its way. Romania, the latest European emerging country to increase interest rates, was the first to do so on Tuesday. Poland will follow this trend on Thursday.

The energy markets are continuing to cause headaches for the industry with U.K. gasoline prices reaching a new record high at 330 pence per therm (or around 97 euro per megawatt-hour).

Oil prices rose to multi-year highs after global worries about oil supply. This was especially true when the so-called OPEC+ bloc opted not to accelerate an agreed pace of production increases. 

This strength continued even after oil supply data showed signs of slowing fuel demand in the world’s largest consumer, after inventories increased by 951,000 barrels for the week ended Oct. 1, according to data from the , when a draw of about 300,000 barrels had been expected.

U.S. crude oil futures were 0.5% lower at $79.36 per barrel by 2:15 AM ET. This is after it had risen to its highest point since November 2014. Following a rise to $33.01 during the previous session, U.S. crude futures rose 0.4% and now trade at $83.01.

The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted the Covid-19 group to reduce its forecast for global economic growth in 2021 slightly from its July projection of 6%.

Corporate news: Tesco UK (OTC) is in the limelight after it announced strong half-year results which boosted its full-year profit forecasts.

Also, the price of gold fell 0.4% at $1,753.55/oz while it traded 0.1% higher at 1.1582.