- European stock markets are expected to open marginally lower Tuesday, as investors fret about slowing global growth and future central bank policy decisions.

At 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT), the contract in Germany traded 0.3% lower, in France dropped 0.3% and the contract in the U.K. fell 0.2%.

Data released earlier in the session showed that dropped 0.4% in April, an improvement from the dramatic revised 10.9% slump the previous month, but still indicative of the difficulties in the industrial sector in Europe’s largest economy.

The final index, seen as a good gauge of overall economic health, released Monday, showed that business activity in the eurozone was shored up last month by the bloc's dominant industry offsetting a deepening decline in the sector.

Across the pond, U.S. sector activity barely grew in May, suggesting the recent strong growth in this important sector may now be running out of steam in the face of rising interest rates and high inflation.

Markets are increasingly looking for the to pause rate hikes next week, but the appears to still be months away from following suit with inflation remaining a major issue.

President on Monday cemented expectations of more rate hikes–the ECB also meets next week–by stating that it was too early to call a peak in despite "signs of moderation". 

raised interest rates by 25 basis points overnight, warning that still remained too high in the country and that more policy tightening may still be in order this year.

Oil prices edged lower Tuesday, handing back some of the previous session’s sharp gains as traders returned their attention to the weakening U.S. economic backdrop after the Saudi production cut.

By 02:00 ET, futures traded 0.7% lower at $71.68 a barrel, while the contract dropped 0.6% to $76.27. 

Saudi Arabia, the world’s top exporter, pledged over the weekend an additional cut of around one million barrels per day from July compared with its production levels in May, in an attempt to boost slumping crude prices.

Additionally, rose 0.1% to $1,976.20/oz, while traded 0.1% higher at 1.0724.