BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks are seen opening mostly
lower on Tuesday as investors seek direction from upcoming earnings, U.S. data
releases and the FOMC meeting.

Investors eagerly await the Federal Reserve's policy meeting on Wednesday for
directional cues.

No change in interest rates is expected, but the accompanying policy statement
and remarks by Fed Chair Jerome Powell may offer some clues on what the U.S.
central bank might cut interest rates in the coming months.

Apart from the FOMC meeting, upcoming earnings reports of Amazon and Apple as
well as the April U.S. jobs report also remain on investors' radar.

Closer home, flash quarterly national accounts from Eurozone and other major
euro area economies are due later in the session, headlining a hectic day for
the European economic news.

Asian stocks traded mostly higher, with Japanese markets leading reginal gains
as trading resumed after a long weekend.

Chinese and Hong Kong markets were subdued after the latest batch of Chinese
business activity readings painted a mixed picture of the world's second largest
economy.

China's manufacturing and services activity both expanded at a slower pace in
April, official surveys showed.

At the same time, the Caixin factory survey revealed manufacturing activity grew
more quickly as new export orders rose.

The yen clung to gains after suspected intervention by Japanese authorities in
the currency market.

Gold edged down slightly, and oil held its biggest drop in almost two weeks as
Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks in Cairo helped quell market fears of an expanded
conflict in the Middle East.

U.S. stocks eked out modest gains overnight to extend last week's gains as the
Fed meeting loomed and Tesla said it had cleared its path to roll out
self-driving software in China.

The Dow and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite both rose about 0.4 percent while
the S&P 500 added 0.3 percent.

European stocks gave up early gains to end mixed on Monday. The pan European
STOXX 600 finished marginally higher.

The German DAX slipped 0.2 percent and France's CAC 40 shed 0.3 percent while
the U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended flat with a positive bias.



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