European Stock Futures Lower; German Retail Sales in Focus

European stock markets are expected to open lower Thursday, ending a tough month on a gloomy note, given concerns aggressive monetary tightening to curb inflation will cause a severe global economic slowdown. At 2 AM ET (0600 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.9% lower, CAC 40 futures in France dropped 1.1%, and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. fell 1%. The major indices in Europe are on course to post significant losses this month with sentiment weak as the war in Ukraine shows no sign of ending anytime soon, the ECB is set to start raising interest rates to attempt to tackle soaring inflation and the economic recovery from the COVID pandemic struggles to take hold.