European equity markets expected to decline after the decline on Wall Street. The Eurostoxx 50 opened at 4,189.42 points down 0.17%, the CAC 40 at 6,770.11 points (-0.73%), the DAX 30 at 15.965.97 points (+0.28%), the FTSE 100 at 7,169.32 points (-0.16%), the SMI at 12,545.35 points (+0.54%), the AEX at 771.48 points (+0.09%), the BEL 20 at 4.342.24 points (+0.44%), the IBEX 35 at 8,970.20 points (+1.18%), the DJIA at 34,960.69 points (-1.08%), the Nasdaq at 14.525.91 points (-0.89%), the S&P 500 at 4,400.27 points (-1.07%) and the Nikkei 225 at 27,392.17 points down 0.70%.

As for the exchange rate, the change from the New York close, EUR/USD opens at 1.1676 down 0.29%, EUR/JPY at 128.64 (+0.09%) and USD/JPY at 110.19 with a 0.38% rise.

European equity markets are expected to open sharply lower on Thursday, following Wall Street's decline, after the release of the minutes of the latest U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) monetary policy meeting, which will be held on Thursday.serve (Fed), which revealed that central bankers were increasingly in favor of reducing the institution's asset purchases this year. At 7:40 a.m., the CAC 40 futures contract was down 45.2 points, or 0.7%, according to data from broker IG Markets. The DAX 30 contract was down 105.3 points, or 0.7%, and the FTSE 100 contract was down 45.8 points, or 0.6%. The New York Stock Exchange lost ground on Wednesday amid concerns about the economic recovery. The decline in the indices was accentuated after the release of the Fed's minutes, which confirmed the hypothesis of a reduction in the central bank's asset purchases before the end of the year. Investors also reacted to the announcement of a sharper than expected decline in U.S. housing starts in July (-7%), while building permits granted rose more than expected (+2.6%), according to figures from the Commerce Department. In Asia, equity markets are losing ground Thursday morning. At the end of the session, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.7%, the Hang Seng Index was down 1.7% in Hong Kong and the Nikkei Index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 0.7%.

U.S. Treasury yields retreated Thursday morning, after rising in response to the release of the Fed's policy committee minutes. At 7:25 a.m., the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bond was at 1.261%.

The euro fell Thursday morning against the dollar but gained some ground against the yen. The greenback also gained against the Japanese currency, supported by the prospect of a reduction in asset purchases by the Fed. Overall, the dollar's short-term uptrend remains intact and the fact that the Fed is moving closer to tapering could allow the greenback to continue to appreciate, IG said.

Oil prices continue to decline Thursday morning, after falling the day before to their lowest level since last May. Concerns about the impact of the health crisis on energy demand are weighing on black gold prices, although the U.S. Department of Energy reported Wednesday that U.S. crude inventories fell by more than 3 million barrels last week. At 7:30 a.m., the October contract for North Sea Brent crude was down 90 cents at $67.33 a barrel. The Nymex-listed September light sweet crude (WTI) contract was down $1.10 at $64.35 a barrel.