Stock market today: World shares mixed ahead of US consumer confidence and price data

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares opened lower in Europe after a mixed day in Asia on Tuesday as investors waited for updates on inflation and how American consumers are feeling about the economy.

Germany's DAX lost 0.1% to 15,946.07 ahead of a speech by Chancellor Olaf Scholz to parliament where he plans to lay out how he and his fractious governing coalition plan to improve the struggling economy and find their way out of a budget crisis.

The CAC 40 in Paris gave up 0.5% to 7,229.88, while Britain's FTSE 100 declined 0.4% to 7,430.26. The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.1%.

The Conference Board was due Tuesday to issue an update on consumer confidence, which has remained solid throughout the year. Economists polled by FactSet said they expect another solid reading for the October report.

On Thursday, Wall Street will be closely watching the government’s October data on the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation. Economists expect that measure to continue easing, as it has been since the middle of 2022.

Investors have grown cautiously optimistic that inflation has cooled enough for the Federal Reserve to put a definitive end to its aggressive interest rate hikes. Meanwhile, the broader economy has remained strong enough in the face of rising interest rates and inflation to avoid a recession.

Signs the U.S. economy is slowing, and that conditions in China remain uncertain are weighing on sentiment, analysts said.

After U.S. new home sales slowed more than expected in October, “The Conference Board’s consumer confidence survey could well show a deterioration in mood,” Robert Carnell and Min Joo Kang of ING Economics said in a commentary.

In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost 0.1% to 33,408.39.

The Hang Seng in Hong...