European equity markets were set to open lower on Wednesday, extending this week’s selloff as investors grew increasingly concerned about the impact of the Middle East conflict on inflation and interest rate expectations. Oil prices rose for a fourth consecutive session amid ongoing regional tensions, with Tehran issuing threats against energy infrastructure and commercial shipping in the Gulf.
The conflict intensified on Tuesday after Israel carried out strikes in Lebanon, while Iran stepped up missile and drone attacks targeting Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, and Bahrain. Against this backdrop, investors are also preparing to assess fresh services PMI data for the Eurozone, Germany, France, and the UK, as well as the latest Eurozone unemployment figures.
On the corporate side, quarterly results are due from Bayer, Adidas, Continental, Beazley, and Italgas, among others. In premarket trading, futures on both the Euro Stoxx 50 and the Stoxx 600 were down around 0.3%.
