LONDON — European stocks are expected to open much higher on Thursday as investors in the region digest the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision Wednesday to accelerate the reduction of its monthly bond purchases. 

The U.K. FTSEIndex opens 61 points higher than 7,235 in Germany. DAXFrance’s 15,651 point increase is 161 points CAC 40 up 99 points at 7,028, Italy’s FTSE MIBAccording to data from IG, 281 more points were at 26974,

Investors around the world will digest Wednesday’s U.S. central banks signal. aggressive on tapering bond purchases and sees several rate hikes in 2022.

In January, the Fed will reduce the rate of asset purchases and purchase $60 billion more bonds per month in future months. This compares to the $90 billion it bought in December.

Fed officials have released projections that show three rate increases in 2022. Two more are expected in the next year, and two more in 2024.

Following recent inflation data that showed an 8.8% rise in November’s prices, the decision was made to increase bond buying. higher than expected and the fastest rate since 1982.

Asia-Pacific marketsInvestors were divided Thursday after the Fed indicated that the Fed is ending its ultra-easy monetary policy from the beginning of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, U.S. stock futuresAfter the decision, they were slightly higher on Wednesday evening. Additional U.S. data, including jobless claims and housing starts at 8:30 am EST Thursday morning will be released.

On Thursday, there will be more activity at the central banks with the Bank of England set to release its latest monetary policy decision. The U.K. saw its inflation rise to an all-time high of 10 percent in November according to data Wednesday. These numbers could be used by the bank to decide whether or not to increase monetary policy.

Flash purchasing manager’s (PMI), data for the U.K. and eurozone for December are also important for European markets. This data will most likely show the imposition or partial lockdowns of Covid restrictions in certain countries like Germany and the Netherlands.

— CNBC’s Tanaya Macheel and Saheli Roy Choudhury contributed to this report.