10 things you need to know before European markets open
The US Federal Reserve decision is coming. At 7 p.m. UK time (2 p.m. ET) the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve will reveal whether or not they voted to raise interest rates in January.
Chinese stocks are down again. After plunging by over 6% on Tuesday, Chinese stocks remain under the pump with the benchmark Shanghai Composite index currently down 3.49%.
Apple posted disappointing sales figures. Apple expects $50-$53 billion (£35 billion - £38 billion) in sales for the first three months of 2016, which at its midpoint will be an 11% drop compared to the year before.
China had a warning for George Soros. Soros has been warned not to wage "war on the renminbi." The message comes in a piece published in China's People's Daily titled "Declaring war on China's currency? Ha ha."
An influential commentator sees oil staying cheap for a while. Dennis Gartman said that he thought crude oil wouldn't trade back above $44 "in my lifetime," though he did say oil may have hit a short-term bottom.
Profit at Philips is up 55%. Health-conscious consumers snapping up everything from electric toothbrushes to kitchen appliances drove up 2015 profits at electronics giant Philips as it seeks to spin off its historic lighting business.
Proctor & Gamble earnings rose 35%. US consumer products giant Procter and Gamble reported a jump in second-quarter earnings Tuesday, despite a strong dollar that continued to depress the value of foreign sales.
AIG is being broken up. The insurance giant said it would spin off its mortgage insurance unit and sell its broker-dealer network as part of the sweeping changes it has been promising shareholders as it fends off activist investor Carl Icahn.
The Czech president is in hot water. Czech President Milos Zeman outraged government and opposition politicians alike by joking that only an election or Kalashnikov assault rifle could be used to get rid of Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, his long-time political adversary.
Russia thinks the US is after its natural resources. The head of Russia's Security Council said in a newspaper interview that the United States wanted a weakened Russia so as to gain access to its vast mineral resources.