With investors worrying about a worldwide economic downturn, European stock markets are anticipated to begin Thursday with a sluggish tone.

With investors worrying about a worldwide economic downturn, European stock markets are anticipated to begin Thursday with a sluggish tone.

Before the Good Friday holiday, when the United States will issue the closely-watched monthly nonfarm payroll statistics, trading ranges are likely to stay constrained in Europe.

European stocks started the year strongly, but enthusiasm appears to be fading as investors worry that a slowing U.S. economy might push the rest of the globe into a recession.

The U.S. services sector slowed more than projected in March, according to data released on Wednesday, adding to indications of a cooling labour market after U.S. job vacancies fell to their lowest level in almost two years in February.

As shown by final PMI estimates from S&P Global, the Eurozone economy grew faster than it has since May in March, although this expansion is not believed to persist given the tightening of credit conditions across the area, which began long before last month's banking crises.

According to figures released earlier, German industrial production increased by 2% on a monthly basis in February, down from the previously reported 3.7% rise.

The Caixin/S&P Global services purchasing managers' index revealed Thursday that China's services activity in March increased at the fastest rate in more than 2 years, aided by a post-COVID rebound.

But, the International Monetary Fund issued a warning on Wednesday that escalating geopolitical tensions, particularly between the United States and China, run the danger of harming the world economy, with a potential short-term impact of 1% and a long-term impact of 2% on global production.

While falling on Thursday as concerns about a future recession in the world's top energy consumer increased due to bad U.S. statistics, oil prices are still likely to end the week positively amid falling U.S. crude stocks and the surprise OPEC+ output reduction.

Nonetheless, crude has increased by more than 6% this week as a result of OPEC+'s decision to further reduce production and the decrease of 3.7 million barrels in U.S. crude oil stocks last week, according to official statistics released on Wednesday.

Fairly quiet on the economic calendar today, with the main events being:

• UK Construction PMI at 08:30 GMT.
• US Initial Jobless Claims at 13:30 GMT.

(Investing.com , Reuters.com)