European shares expected to open on a positive note as earnings season picks up the pace

Corporate earnings are expected to keep investors on their toes on Wednesday, as a whole host of companies are set to release their latest financial figures. Reckitt Benckiser, Carrefour and Zalando are just a handful expected to post corporate information during the day.

Dutch chemicals group Akzo Nobel posted its third-quarter results Wednesday, with the company anticipating positive developments for the EMEA region (except for the U.K.), Asia and North America going forward; however added that industry specific “headwinds” are expected to continue.

Elsewhere in individual stock news, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Australian-British miner Rio Tinto and two of its former top executives with fraud on Tuesday, stating that they had inflated the value of coal assets in Mozambique, which was acquired for $3.7 billion and sold years later for $50 million, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, British supermarket group Sainsbury’s will be under close watch, after a company spokesman confirmed to media outlets on Tuesday that the retailer was looking to cut up to 2,000 jobs.

Switching to more broader topics, politics will continue to rumble on in the background on Wednesday, with investors waiting for the latest news surrounding Brexit and Catalonia.

Looking at Spain, the nation’s stocks will be closely watched, as news emerged Tuesday that Catalonia refused to give in to the Spanish government’s demand of renouncing its independence.

Meanwhile, Brexit continues to be up for discussion, with U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May expected to speak with fellow leaders of the European Union on Thursday. Earlier this week, both May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called for the pace of Brexit negotiations to be accelerated.

Overseas, the Communist Party’s once-every-five-year Party Congress kicked off on Wednesday, with President Xi Jinping commenting on a range of topics during his speech including corruption, the benefits of socialism, and why the “One China” principle should be maintained.

Elsewhere, a number of European Central Bank members are expected to deliver remarks in different countries Wednesday, including President Mario Draghi and Benoît Cœuré, member of the ECB’s executive board.

In data news, unemployment figures for the U.K. are due out in morning trade, along with construction output for the euro zone. Source: CNBC