By Peter Nurse 

- European stock markets are expected to open with minor losses Wednesday, weighed by disappointing earnings overnight from U.S. tech giants Alphabet (NASDAQ:) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:), while investors digest more quarterly earnings from the European banking sector, and from in particular.

At 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT), the contract in Germany traded 0.2% lower, in France dropped 0.4%, and the contract in the U.K. fell 0.4%.

European equity markets are set to suffer a negative read across from a fall in U.S. futures overnight after a disappointing start to Big Tech earnings week.

stock fell over 6% after hours after the owner of Google, which is the world's largest digital advertising platform by market share, reported disappointing ad sales as advertisers cut back on their spending in the face of an economic slowdown.

stock also fell over 6% after hours after the software giant disappointed with its forecast for revenue growth in its closely watched Azure cloud-computing business.

Back in Europe, it’s the banking sector which will be in the spotlight, with generally positive news.

Deutsche Bank (ETR:) is set to shine Wednesday after the German banking giant a substantial jump in third-quarter profit as investment banking revenues rose despite a slump in deal-making.

Spanish lender Santander (BME:) reported that its net profit in the rose 11% on an annual basis as higher revenues across its markets offset a rise in loan loss provisions and costs.

UniCredit (BIT:) raised its 2022 profit goal, with the second-largest Italian bank boosted by higher interest rates and lower loan loss provisions which also drove above expectations in the third quarter.

(LON:) reported a 40% increase in profit as higher interest rates boosted the emerging markets-focused bank's income, allowing it to upgrade its revenue outlook.

Elsewhere, Mercedes Benz (ETR:) raised its outlook for its cars division as rose strongly, while French catering and food services group Sodexo (EPA:) better-than-expected full-year revenue, saying it expects 2023 revenue and profit margins to hit 2019 levels.

The economic data calendar is quiet in Europe Wednesday, with figures for October the highlight. 

Oil prices dipped Wednesday after industry data indicated that U.S. crude stocks grew more than expected last week, reinforcing fears that a slowdown in the world’s largest economy will hit demand.

Data from the showed that U.S. crude inventories grew by 4.5 million barrels in the week to Oct. 21, more than expectations for a build of 200,000 barrels. 

Traders will look towards the release of an official report from the later in the session for confirmation. 

By 02:00 ET, futures traded 0.8% lower at $84.67 a barrel, while the contract fell 0.9% to $90.89. 

Additionally, rose 0.3% to $1,662.65/oz, while traded 0.1% lower at 0.9962.