Investors wait with apprehension for the results of the most recent policy-setting meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve

As investors wait with apprehension for the results of the most recent policy-setting meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve, European stock markets are anticipated to begin with modest losses on Wednesday.

Even though Tuesday's weak U.S. inflation statistics practically eliminated any chances that the Fed policymakers would agree to a rate rise later in the session, the tone is more cautious on Wednesday.

The U.S. central bank's year-long cycle of rate increases has basically come to an end, and the only remaining question is how the language used to set expectations for future action and the new quarterly economic estimates will be handled.

Once they have had time to gauge how the economy is faring with the more than 500 basis points in combined rate rises already announced, policymakers may well indicate that there will be further rate increases in the future.

Over in Europe, the U.K. economy expanded by 0.2% over the course of the month in April, a little improvement over the 0.3% decline the previous month, while industrial production decreased by 0.3% over the same time period.

A day before the European Central Bank meets to announce its most recent monetary policy decision, there is also the euro-area industrial output for April to consider later in the session.

Wednesday saw a little increase in oil prices as traders awaited the results of the Fed's most recent meeting and official statistics on U.S. crude stocks. This was a stabilisation after the previous session's significant rise.

The attention is on official statistics due later in the day after data from the API revealed that U.S. oil stockpiles unexpectedly increased by around 1 million barrels last week.

(Sources: investing.com reuters.com)