European equities opened modestly lower on Tuesday, tracking overnight weakness on Wall Street, though declines remained limited as investors prepared for a week packed with key central bank announcements.
By 08:05 GMT, Germany’s DAX was down 0.6%, France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.2%, and the UK’s FTSE 100 eased 0.1%.
Central banks in focus
Market sentiment was weighed down by losses in U.S. equities, where technology stocks continued to retreat overnight. That weakness spilled into Asian markets, following renewed selling pressure in the tech sector sparked last week by disappointing outlooks and heavy spending plans from Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) and Oracle (NYSE:ORCL).
Despite this backdrop, investors in Europe are primarily focused on upcoming monetary policy decisions as the year draws to a close. The European Central Bank is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at 2% on Thursday, with recent indicators pointing to a gradual recovery across the eurozone.
Elsewhere, Sweden’s Riksbank and Norway’s Norges Bank are also due to announce their final policy decisions of 2025 this week. In the UK, the outcome of the Bank of England meeting is seen as finely balanced, although markets broadly expect policymakers to deliver another rate cut.
U.S. payrolls in the spotlight
Later in the session, December business activity data for Europe are due to be released. In the UK, unemployment has already climbed to 5.1% in the three months to October, marking a post-pandemic high.
Globally, attention is firmly on the delayed U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for November. The data come after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates last week and signalled the possibility of further easing next year. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect job growth of around 50,000, sharply lower than the 119,000 positions added in September.
Corporate news
In company updates, TotalEnergies (EU:TTE) announced a 21-year power supply agreement with Alphabet-owned Google, under which it will provide 1 terawatt hour of renewable electricity to support Google’s data centre operations in Malaysia.
Rolls-Royce (LSE:RR.) said it plans to launch a £200 million interim share buyback programme in January, following the completion of its £1 billion repurchase programme in November 2025.
Oil prices retreat on Ukraine peace hopes
Oil prices moved lower as optimism grew around the potential for progress in Russia–Ukraine peace talks, raising the prospect of an eventual easing of sanctions.
Brent crude futures fell 0.8% to $60.04 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate slipped 0.9% to $58.18 a barrel.
U.S. officials indicated some advances in discussions, with Kyiv reportedly willing to abandon its bid to join NATO, a long-standing Russian demand, while Washington has offered security guarantees to Ukraine. However, negotiations over territorial concessions remain unresolved.
Any peace agreement could ultimately lead to the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Russian oil producers, potentially adding further supply to an already well-balanced global market.
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