10 things you need to know before European markets open
Chinese services are growing at their slowest pace in six months. HSBC's services purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China, one of the most widely-watched business surveys in the world, fell to 51.8. Anything above 50 signals growth. Two days ago, HSBC's survey for manufacturing showed the PMI below 50 for a second month.
Russian state energy giant Rosneft is raising money from a Swiss commodities trader. Rosneft is raising money from Swiss trader Trafigura days before it must repay a $7 billion debt and squeezed by sanctions, industry sources said, seeking new options after a foray into the bond market fuelled a devaluation of the rouble.
US auto makers sold 16.56 million units in January. The big automakers have announced their January US sales stats throughout the day. And according to WardsAuto, the pace of sales slowed to an annualised rate of 16.56 million, down from 16.8 million in December. This was in line with analysts' expectation for 16.6 million.
Services PMIs are coming. After manufacturing PMIs earlier this week, the eurozone's services PMI figures for January are out between 8:15 a.m. and 9 a.m. GMT (4:15 and 5 a.m. ET). Economists are expecting an improvement from December.
US petrol prices just reversed a 17-week slumping trend. Gasoline prices fell for 17 straight weeks from September 29 through January 26. The Energy Information Administration says that this streak has come to an end. With oil prices rising, average US gas prices ticked up from $2.044/gal on January 26 to $2.068 on February 2.
The weak yen is boosting Toyota. Toyota lifted its operating profit guidance by 8% on Wednesday as a weaker yen increases the value of sales overseas and makes up for slumping demand at home. The world's biggest automaker now expects record operating profit of 2.70 trillion yen ($22.93 billion) for the year.
Asian markets are mostly up. Japan's Nikkei climbed 1.98% on Wednesday, followed up by Hong Kong's Hang Seng, which is now up 0.62%. The Shanghai Composite dipped, down 0.5% just ahead of the close.
Brazil may replace the management of state energy giant Petrobras. Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff accepted an offer by Petrobras Chief Executive Officer Maria das Graças Foster to step down this month, setting in motion a plan to replace senior management at the embattled state-run oil company, a government source said on Tuesday.
Venezuela just took over a supermarket chain accused of hoarding. Venezuela said on Tuesday it has temporarily taken over 35 stores belonging to the "Dia a Dia" supermarket chain on charges it squirrelled away food to stoke public exasperation over widespread shortages.