*MSCI Asia Pacific ex- Japan edges lower. At 0604 GMT, futures for Euro STOXX 50, Germany's DAX and France's CAC were 0.1 to 0.4 percent lower. U.S. equities had sagged on Thursday after John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, said the Fed could begin easing back on the monetary gas pedal this summer and end bond buying late this year.
European stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Thursday, adding to the previous session's recovery rally, as a report that China is interested in buying "bailout bonds" for Portugal helped improve sentiment.
European shares were set to slip on Wednesday, reversing the previous day's gains and tracking weak US and Asian markets, as a slowing pace of economic growth and worries over the euro zone debt troubles prompted a pullback in risk appetite.
European stocks were expected to open significantly lower on Wednesday, despite a slight bounce on Tuesday’s close with gains for miners on Glencore’s first day of regular trading on the London Stock Exchange.
The imminent end of the Fed's quantitative easing as well as news that Standard & Poor’s had downgraded the outlook for Italy's ratings to negative were behind the stock selloff in Europe in morning trade, analysts told CNBC.com Monday.
European stocks were expected to open lower on Monday following a further downgrade of Greece's credit rating by rating agency Fitch and after Standard and Poor's decision at the weekend to revise its outlook for Italy to "negative" from "stable".
European stocks were indicated to open slightly higher after Thursday's rise, with the euro easing against the dollar but holding on to some of the gains made on the back of weaker than expected US data.
European shares are expected to open higher on Thursday with the DAX, CAC and FTSE 100 predicted to begin trade 30 points higher by spread betters in London.
Decisions by politicians on how to deal with debt on both sides of the Atlantic will be crucial to prevent another Lehman-style crisis, economists and analysts told CNBC in a debate about banking in the European Union and in the US.
European stocks are expected to open higher despite a negative session in Asia anb following another volatile trading session for commodities on Thursday.
European stock market futures pointed to a slightly higher open after Wall Street closed Monday slightly up on the back of commodity related news and China posted its highest trade surplus in four months in April.
European stocks pointed to a lower open on Monday as initial optimism faded off the back of US non farm payroll figures on Friday and concerns re-emerged about the European sovereign debt crisis.
European stock market futures pointed to a lower open on Friday as investors waited to see if other banks followed the example of Lloyds’ banking group as it set aside 3 billion pounds in impairment charges related to the mis-selling of payment protection insurance.
European stock market futures pointed to a mixed opening on Wednesday as earnings season got properly underway and Glencore was expected to publish the prospectus for its much anticipated joint flotation on the London and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges.
European shares were expected to fall on Tuesday after gaining for eight straight sessions, with a drop in commodity prices seen hurting mining and energy stocks.