Peter Nurse 

Investing.com – European stock markets are expected to open higher Thursday as investors digest the Federal Reserve’s move to tackle inflation, ahead of policy decisions by both the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.. 

The contract in Germany was 0.6% lower at 2AM ET (0700 GMT). In France, it rose 1.5% while the contract in Britain rose 0.4%.

On Wednesday, the company announced that it would increase its asset-tapering program by double to $30 Billion per month. It also projected three quarter point interest-rate rises in 2022. 

It was clear that Fed policymakers felt the U.S. could handle both the Omicron variant of monetary policy and tightening monetary policy while trying to combat high levels inflation.

Jerome Powell, Fed Chair, stated that the economy does not require increasing levels of support after the end of two days of policy meetings. 

There’s more central bank activity in Europe Thursday, with both the and the having to strike a balance between the need to support economies threatened by the Covid-19 virus with the desire to combat inflationary pressures.

After data from Wednesday, which showed that British rose in November to their highest level in over 10 years, the BoE seems more likely to increase monetary policy.

Economic data in focus Thursday will center around flash December purchasing manager’s index numbers across the Eurozone and U.K., with the releases set to reflect the imposition of Covid restrictions and partial lockdowns in many regions.

Corporate news Telecom Italia After Reuters reports that Vivendi, the top Italian investor in the phone company (OTC) may be pushing for a reshuffle of the board to remove Luigi Gubitosi as CEO, (MI:), (MI::) will likely come to the forefront.

Volkswagen (DE:), another potential target, could be also in the spotlight after Manager Magazin reported Volkswagen sales expected to decline below 9 million units this year because of semiconductor bottlenecks. German automobile giant Volkswagen had just below 11 million unit sales in 2019.

Novartis (SIX-) The Swiss pharmaceutical giant announced that it will initiate a share buyback in the amount of $15 billion, which could be done by 2023.

After stockpiles dropped the most since September and oil prices rose on Thursday, this suggests that demand remains strong even though the Omicron version of Covid-19 virus is threatening to reduce global consumption. 

According to an Energy Information Administration report, the number of barrels consumed last week fell by 4.58 millions. The drop was much greater than what an industry report had shown on Tuesday.

U.S. crude oil futures were 1.3% higher at $71.81 per barrel by 2AM ET. Contracts rose 1.2%, to $74.77. 

The price also rose 1.2% to $1785.20/oz and traded 0.1% higher at 1,1296.