European Shares May Struggle For Direction At Open

European stocks are seen opening mixed in thin trade on Tuesday, with London markets closed in observance of Boxing Day.

Asian markets were trading mixed, with Chinese and Hong Kong stocks declining despite the People’s Bank of China boosting its injection of short-term cash into the banking system to the highest in two months.

China Evergrande Group is facing an initial interest payment deadline for two dollar bonds after reporting progress in resuming home deliveries.

Gold slipped from a one-week high as short-dated Treasury yields hit 22-month high on the back of a survey indicating strong U.S. holiday retail sales.

The dollar languished near the bottom end of its recent trading range versus a basket of peers, while oil extended gains to hover near one-month high on optimism that Omicron won’t derail an economic recovery.

U.S. stocks rose in thin post-Christmas trading on Monday as investors hailed strong holiday season sales and grew confident a global recovery would regain steam next year despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The S&P 500 climbed 1.4 percent to reach a new record closing high ahead of year-end window dressing and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rallied 1.4 percent while the Dow added 1 percent.

European stocks closed higher on Monday amid easing concerns about the economic impact of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The pan European Stoxx 600 advanced 0.6 percent. The German DAX rose half a percent to a one-month high and France’s CAC 40 index added 0.8 percent to close at its level in about five weeks, while the U.K. markets were closed for a holiday.

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