Peter Nurse 

Investing.com: European stock markets will open subdued Tuesday, as investors process the Omicron Covid variant and prepare for three central bank meeting this week.

The contract in Germany was trading 0.2% higher at 2AM ET (0700 GMT), while the French contract dropped 0.1%, and that in the U.K. declined 0.5%.

European equity markets fell Monday after investors worried about the developments around the Omicron variation of the Covid-19virus, which included the confirmation that the first U.K. fatality was confirmed.

A study by the University of Oxford on Monday showed that Omicron can be prevented with two doses of Covid-19 vaccines. This is in stark contrast to previous coronavirus variants.

The agenda for this week includes meetings to discuss policy from high profile central banks such as the and the in Europe. However, it is most important that the the the.

It is expected that the Fed will discuss faster withdrawals of its huge bond-buying program. If this happens, it could be one step closer in raising interest rates. 

It follows a 6.8% increase in November’s annual terms, which is the highest rise in that month since 1982.

Returning to Europe, U.K. unemployment fell almost 50,000 in November and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.2% in October, good news ahead of Thursday’s Bank of England meeting. However, employment growth has slowed to below what was expected in the fourth quarter.

The BoE shocked the markets by not increasing interest rates last month, despite the high inflation. However, policymakers chose to be cautious and will likely do so again given Omicron’s arrival and new restrictions.

HSBC (LON.) will be the focus of corporate news. The European bank giant with a Asia-focus, HSBC, stated Tuesday that it expects all clients to have a plan to get out of coal by 2023. It was not known for cutting down its coal exposure in China.

After coronavirus cases increased in Asia and Europe, oil prices fell Tuesday. This raised concerns about an increase in demand. 

But, the losses are minimal after the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) raised the world oil demand forecast for quarter one of 2022 Monday. They expect the Omicron variant of the Omicron to have a temporary and mild impact. 

The futures closed 0.2% below $71.14/barrel at 2 AM ET. However, the contract went up 0.2%, to $74.51.

Also, the price of gold fell 0.1% at $1,788.00/oz while it traded 0.1% lower to 1.1274.