European stocks opened broadly lower on Wednesday ahead of a U.K.-focused day for markets.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was around 0.1% lower shortly after the opening bell, with London’s FTSE 100 bucking the trend to trade 0.2% higher.
Wednesday will be a busy day for U.K. financial markets, with the “Spring Statement” from U.K. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves due just after midday local time, and official figures showing U.K. inflation cooled slightly to 2.8% in February.
Reeves is expected to announce billions of pounds worth of spending cuts as a way to close a budget shortfall caused by a rise in borrowing costs since her first fiscal plan released last fall.
Asia-Pacific markets traded higher overnight, tracking Wall Street gains on Tuesday on expectations that U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs could be softer than expected earlier. U.S. stock futures were little changed Tuesday night.
U.S. markets closed slightly higher Tuesday despite the release of consumer confidence data showing that U.S. consumers’ near-term outlook on income, business and job prospects dropped to the lowest reading in 12 years.
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