Peter Nurse 

Investing.com – European stock markets are expected to open higher Tuesday, starting the new month on a more positive note after January’s losses, but with investors remaining cautious over the extent of economic growth in the region as well as geopolitical concerns involving Ukraine.

2.30 AM ET (0700 GMT), Germany’s contract traded 0.1% higher while France rose 0.5%. The U.K contract rose 0.6%.

Although the global stock market closed on a positive note in January, the overall month saw large losses due to investors’ concerns about the U.S. Federal Reserve’s hawkish move and supply-chain restrictions. In January, the pan-European index fell nearly 4%. Its worst month since Oct 2020.

Apart from the rising interest rate concerns, Russia and Ukraine are in a fraught spot. On Monday the United States warned Russia that any incursion would result in sanctions being imposed on all companies and those who were close to it.

After preliminary data on Monday revealed that the Eurozone’s economic recovery was slowing, it could be cause for concern.

A slump of 5.5% was seen in December for the month, but a decrease in Europe’s January could be expected later in the session. 

UBS, SIX:, will likely be headlined Tuesday in corporate news after it increased share buybacks despite reporting a 18% drop in fourth-quarter earnings. The increase was due to a $740m lawsuit provision for a French Tax case.

The bank’s full-year net profit of $7.457 billion comfortably outstripped the consensus expectation of $6.976 billion.

Rio Tinto (NYSE 🙂 will also be at the forefront of attention after Rio Tinto released Tuesday’s report outlining the culture of bullying harassment and racism within the company. The report included 21 allegations of actual or attempted sexual assault over five years.

Oil prices edged higher Tuesday, remaining close to the seven-year highs seen last week on expectations that the demand/supply balance will remain tight given a strong post-pandemic global recovery and limited output increases from the world’s top exporters.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, along with allies headed by Russia, will likely continue to support their cautiously increased production plan when they meet this Wednesday.

At 2:05 AM ET futures had traded 0.2% higher to $88.31/barrel, and the contract rose 0.1%, reaching $89.38. The benchmarks reached their highest level since October 2014. Friday’s Nymex contract gain of over 17% was its largest January gain in 30 years. In the same month, Brent also gained 15%.  

Furthermore, the price rose 0.4% at $1,801.70/oz and traded 0.1% higher to 1.1240.