Peter Nurse 

Investing.com — European stock markets are expected to open a touch higher Wednesday, continuing in the previous session’s positive tone after Russia announced it had pulled some troops back from the Ukraine border.

The move raised hopes that armed conflict in the region can be avoided.

The contract in Germany was 0.2% lower at 2AM ET (0700 GMT), while the one in France rose 0.2%, and that in the United Kingdom rose 0.2%.

On Tuesday, global stock markets rose with both the and the increasing by approximately 2%. The Russian defense ministry posted footage that showed it returning troops to their base after conducting exercises.

There are doubts about the significance of the move, with General Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s chief, warning that the military alliance has so far “not seen any sign of de-escalation on the ground from the Russian side”, while hours after Moscow’s announcement, Ukraine said the online networks of its defense ministry and two banks were overwhelmed by a cyber attack.

The market is taking the announcement as cause for optimism. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated Tuesday that the diplomatic options available to him are not exhausted after his meeting with Vladimir Putin.  

Looking at economic data, U.K. sank 0.1% on January but the annual number remained elevated at 5.5%. This suggests that the Bank of England will continue to be under pressure to raise interest rates over the coming months.

Europe sees the release of data for December, but the focus is likely to be on the from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting, where policy makers in all likelihood debated how quickly it should tighten monetary policy in the months after March.   

Heineken (OTC) continues to be a highlight in the corporate earnings sector. In 2021, the second-largest brewer worldwide reported higher earnings than anticipated. This was due to cost savings and consumers switching to better beers.

Oil prices stabilized Wednesday after the previous session’s sharp losses on the easing of tensions on the Ukraine border. 

Other data, including crude oil supply data released by the on Tuesday showed an increase of just under 1 million barrels in last week’s draw. Now, investors are awaiting data on crude oil supplies from the U.S. later in the day.

Futures were trading 0.5% higher at $92.53 per barrel by 2AM ET while contract prices rose 0.5%, to $93.75. On Tuesday, both benchmarks dropped over 3%. This was the largest one-day drop of this year.

Furthermore, it rose 0.1% to $1856.90/oz and traded 0.1% higher at 1.13365.