(RTTNews) - European stocks may edge higher at the open on Thursday, with a positive close on Wall Street overnight and notable gains across Asia expected to lift sentiment ahead of the customary weekly jobless claims report due from across the Atlantic later in the day.
Asian stocks rose across the board on Thursday, lifting the MSCI Asia Pacific index for a fifth day, as Applied Materials Inc. swung to a fiscal third-quarter profit and Brambles Ltd's fiscal-year profit topped expectations.
The Dow futures are now rising by 46 points, while the euro is weakening for a second day against the dollar on speculation that Europe's economic recovery is waning.
On the economic front, German annual producer price inflation continued to increase in July, a report by the Federal Statistical Office showed on Thursday. The producer price index rose 3.7% year-over-year in July, faster than the 1.7% growth in the previous month.
Retail sales and public finance data from the U.K. along with producer price inflation data from Germany are scheduled to be released later in the session.
In corporate news, Basilea Pharmaceutica AG reported that its first-half net loss narrowed to CHF 24.9 million from CHF 66.5 million in the prior year.
French hotel and services giant Accor plans to have 90 hotels in operation in India by 2015, chief executive Gilles Pelisson told reporters in New Delhi.
AMEC Plc announced that it has been awarded a contract worth over £60 million by EDF Energy to extend a gas storage facility in Cheshire.
Miners and oil producers weighed down European markets Wednesday, as oil prices fell and metal prices fluctuated. The UK's FTSE 100 Index eased 0.89%, the German DAX Index shed 0.32% and the French CAC 40 ended down 0.41%.
On Wall Street, stocks clawed back into positive territory for the second straight session on Wednesday after a sales forecast from discounter Target Corp temporarily quelled concerns about consumer demand. The Dow rose edged up 0.1%, the Nasdaq gained 0.3% and the S& P 500 closed up 0.2%.
