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European markets were set for a mixed open on Wednesday as fears the economic slowdown would feed into second-quarter corporate earnings increased and investors remained unconvinced the euro zone could get its house in order to bring down the borrowing costs of countries such as Spain and Italy.
The FTSE was called lower by 26 points at 5638, the DAX was seen lower by 29 points at 6409 but the CAC 40 was expected to open 16 points higher at 3159.
U.S. stock markets fell for a fourth straight day on Tuesday as engine manufacturer Cummins issued a profit warning after reporting a slump in quarterly sales which came on top of weak forecasts from Applied Materials and Advanced Micro Devices.
Cummins blamed the stronger dollar, weak domestic orders from truck and power generation customers and lower demand from emerging markets.
Investor sentiment was also dented after Fitch Ratings reaffirmed its AAA credit rating on the U.S. but also maintained its negative outlook, citing a diversified and wealthy economy that was undermined by the government's inability to agree on deficit reduction measures.
Fitch said it did not expect to lift the negative outlook until late 2013.
In Europe, Italy said on Tuesday it may want to tap euro zone aid to ease its borrowing costs as finance ministers struggled to convince markets they were getting a grip on the currency bloc’s debt crisis.
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