European stocks seen higher after Wall Street bounce; EU summit in focus

European stocks are set to open higher Wednesday morning, after upbeat earnings on Wall Street helped to restore an appetite for riskier assets.

The FTSE 100 is seen opening 25 points higher at 7,084, the CAC is expected to open up around 11 points at 5,184, while the DAX is poised to start 40 points higher at 11,819, according to IG.

Stateside, U.S. stocks jumped more than 2 percent in the previous session, following stronger-than-anticipated earnings reports from major companies including Goldman Sachs and Netflix. The news helped Wall Street’s three major indexes register their biggest one-day percentage gains since March.

In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares, excluding Japan, rose around 0.7 percent on Wednesday.

Back in Europe, investors are expected to closely monitor a crunch EU summit in Belgium later. U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is likely to urge other EU leaders to give ground on the issue of the Irish border when she address them in Brussels on Wednesday.

The post-Brexit status of the Irish border remains a sticking point for negotiators, with both sides unable to agree on how to avoid a so-called hard border when Britain leaves the EU on 29 March next year.

Ahead of the summit, European Council President Donald Tusk said there were “no grounds for optimism” over a Brexit deal.

Source: CNBC