British News Agency

According to analysts, the UK’s FTSE index is expected to open down 0.34 percent, Germany’s DAX index down 0.24 percent, France’s CAC 40 index down 0.25 percent, and Italy’s FTSE MIB index down 0.3 percent.

Global markets are awaiting the outcome of the Fed’s final meeting of the year on Wednesday.

Market analysts expect the Fed to deliver a third quarter-point rate cut, and Fed funds futures are pricing in an 87.6 percent probability of a cut.

However, divisions persist among members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which sets interest rates. Some support a cut to prevent further weakening in the labor market, while others believe another reduction could worsen inflation.

Investors will seek to gauge members’ views from the statement to be released after the meeting and from Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s widely watched press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

Sentiment in European markets has been negative this week after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized regional leaders in an interview with Politico published on Tuesday, describing them as “weak.”

Trump, whose relationship with European leaders has been volatile, appears to get along well with some, such as Britain’s Keir Starmer and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, while relations with others seem more strained. In the interview, he criticized Europe as “rotting” because it cannot control migration and “cannot intervene in the war in Ukraine.”

“I don’t think they know what they’re doing,” Trump said in the interview, adding: “Europe doesn’t know what it’s doing.”

These comments are likely to deal a heavy blow to efforts by European allies to ensure the continent’s voice is heard in negotiations over peace proposals for Ukraine. They come on the heels of Trump’s new national security strategy, unveiled last week, in which he questioned whether European countries can remain “reliable allies.”

On Wednesday, TUI’s earnings will be released, along with various data including Italy’s industrial production figures.