European stocks opened generally higher on Wednesday (December 17th) as investors prepared for central bank decisions.

Central bank action will be closely monitored by European market participants this week, with the European Central Bank (ECB) scheduled to hold its final policy meeting of the year on Thursday.

Although the central bank is expected to keep interest rates at 2%, ECB President Christine Lagarde has said it is likely to raise its eurozone growth forecast again. In September, the central bank raised its annual GDP growth forecast to 1.2%.

The Bank of England, Riksbank, and Norges Bank will also hold their final monetary policy decisions for 2025 this week.

The Bank of England's nine-member monetary policy committee is expected to cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 3.75%, given the backdrop of sluggish growth and signs that unemployment may be rising.

Inflation data released on Wednesday showed that the UK inflation rate cooled to 3.2% in November, down from 3.6% a month earlier. The British pound

fell immediately after the data was released, and was last seen trading around 0.6% lower against the US dollar.

Against the euro, the pound lost around 0.3%. Yields on UK government bonds, known as gilts, were little changed shortly after the data was released.

Overnight globally, US stock futures slumped after the S&P 500 recorded its third session of declines on Tuesday, as investors weighed the state of US employment after the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released data on Tuesday for October (after data was delayed due to the government shutdown) and November.

The data showed the US economy lost 105,000 jobs in October, but added 64,000 jobs in November. (alg)

Source: CNBC.com