Maersk jumps 8.5% on earnings beat, Volvo Cars retreats 6% amid warnings of market challenges

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— Karen Gilchrist

Stocks in China and the renminbi face “a tough year regardless of how trade tensions play out,” according to Thomas Mathews, head of Asia Pacific markets at Capital Economics.

Higher tariffs, or elevated tariffs that remain where they are, leave plenty of room for “China’s markets to deteriorate,” according to the firm, a London-based researcher. “But tariffs are, in our view, only one reason to be downbeat,” Mathews wrote Wednesday.

China’s tepid economy ought to keep down bond yields, and the central bank is more likely “to let the currency weaken.”

Meanwhile, stock market investors may be too optimistic about the effect of government measures to boost the economy and too confident about the ability of companies in China to “generate sustained growth in earnings per share,” Mathews said, arguing that “despite a recent pick-up, EPS are still lower than they were ten years ago. And the economic backdrop of that decade was much rosier than we think the next one will be.”

— Scott Schnipper

European markets are expected to open higher Thursday.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 53 points higher at 8,672, Germany’s DAX up 92 points at 21,640, France’s CAC up 26 points at 7,905 and Italy’s FTSE MIB 70 points higher at 36,772, according to data from IG.

Earnings are set to come from ING, ArcelorMittal, Carlsberg, AstraZeneca, Ørsted, Vinci, L’Oreal, Siemens Healthineers, Telenor, Societe Generale and Maersk.

The bank of England is set to deliver its latest monetary policy decision Thursday, with the central bank widely expected to implement its first interest rate cut of the year.

— Holly Ellyatt