European Shares Seen Tad Higher As Fed Meeting Gets Underway

(RTTNews) - European stocks are likely to open higher on Tuesday as investors keep a close eye on the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that gets underway later today. There is consensus for a 75-bps rate move, but a super-sized 100 bps or full percentage point rate hike is also not off the table.

A number of other major central banks around the world are also scheduled to announce their latest monetary policy decisions this week, including the Bank of England, the Swiss National Bank and the Bank of Japan.

Asian markets followed Wall Street higher, gold steadied below $1,700 an ounce and the dollar index eased on improved risk sentiment, while oil prices edged up slightly on supply woes.

In economic news, Eurozone current account balance figures for July, ECB President Lagarde's speech and German August produce price data are on the agenda for today.

Across the Atlantic, a report on new residential construction may attract some attention, although trading activity may be somewhat subdued ahead of Wednesday's Fed decision.

Earlier today, China kept its benchmark lending rates unchanged at a monthly fixing, as expected.

U.S. stocks fluctuated before closing higher overnight as the Fed meeting loomed and a measure of home builder sentiment fell for a ninth straight month.

The Dow rose 0.6 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.8 percent and the S&P 500 added 0.7 percent.

European stocks ended Monday's session mostly lower as investors braced for a slew of central bank meetings.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended flat with a negative bias. The German DAX edged up half a percent, France's CAC 40 index dipped 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 declined 0.6 percent.