(RTTNews) - European stocks are poised to fall on Wednesday, in line with weakness in Asian peers, as doubts emerged about the extent and timing of Federal Reserve's second round of quantitative easing. The uncertainty over Fed's next move dragged commodity prices down, as the dollar edged higher against major world currencies, curbing appetite for riskier assets.
Wall Street offered little guidance as stocks ended flat with a positive bias overnight amid a mixed bag of earnings reports and an upbeat reading on consumer confidence. The Dow futures are currently down 40 points.
Money supply data from the eurozone along with inflation figures from Germany and consumer spending data from France are due later in the day, headlining a moderate day for European economic news.
In corporate news, U.K.-based drug maker GlaxoSmithKline Plc announced that it has finalized a GBP 500 million or US$750 million previously-reported settlement related to the investigations by the U.S. government on manufacturing issues at its Cidra facility.
SAP AG reported third-quarter net profit of EUR 501 million, up 12% from EUR 447 million in the year-ago quarter.
Oracle Corp.'s CEO Larry Ellison said that he has evidence to prove that Hewlett-Packard's incoming chief executive Leo Apotheker, a former CEO of Oracle's rival SAP AG, oversaw an industrial espionage scheme by the German software maker that stole Oracle's software.
Deutsche Bank reported third-quarter 2010 net income of EUR 1.1 billion, excluding the charge of EUR 2.3 billion relating to its stake in Postbank and the related mandatory exchangeable bond.
Air France-KLM Group said it would raise full-year earnings forecast based on its revenue performance of recent months along with its current level of forward bookings.
Italian lender UniCredit SpA said it had appointed deputy chief executive officer Roberto Nicastro to a new position of general manager to lead the commercial banking business.
The European markets closed lower Tuesday, with mining stocks leading the decliners. Energy, financial and auto stocks also retreated as traders digested a less-impressive batch of earnings reports. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index shed 0.8%, while the German DAX and France's CAC 40 eased about 0.4% each.
