(RTTNews) - The European markets are likely to open on a positive note Wednesday morning ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's rate decision and the release of the accompanying statement on the state of economy.

In economic news, shop prices remained flat in October compared with a year ago after falling in the previous two months, the British Retail Consortium said on Wednesday.

Asian stocks rebounded across the board on Wednesday amid cautious trades. After rising yesterday on upbeat U.S. factory orders, crude oil is now trading modestly lower at $79.31 a barrel, down 0.36% from the previous session. Traders await a key U.S. inventory report from the Energy Administration later Wednesday.

On Wall Street, the major averages finished a choppy session on the opposite sides of the unchanged mark overnight despite some signs of life on the M&A front and positive news on factory orders. A section of traders chose to stay on the sidelines ahead of release of key economic reports in the second half of the week.

Energy and raw-materials producers rose as crude oil advanced and gold climbed to a record, but technology stocks fell led by Intel Corp after Morgan Stanley reduced its rating on the stock to "cautious.' While the Dow ended lower by 0.18%, the Nasdaq rose 0.4% and the S&P 500 moved up 0.24%.

In domestic corporate news, German sportswear firm Adidas AG signed a five-year endorsement contract with British tennis player Andy Murray.
Automaker General Motors said that its board has decided to retain its German unit Adam Opel GmbH and British sister brand Vauxhall, citing the improving business environment as well as the brands importance to GM's global strategy.

German carmaker BMW AG said its U.S. vehicle sales in October fell 19% to 20,619 units from 25,475 units in the year-ago month. Daimler AG said its U.S. sales increased 9.4% last month, led by a jump in Mercedes-Benz volumes.

Volkswagen AG said its sales in the U.S. rose 7.2% last month. Porsche SE's U.S. sales for October rose 15% from a year earlier.

French construction group Bouygues SA said it sold a 35.7% stake in its Finagestion subsidiary to Emerging Capital Partners.

Guy Yraeta, who heads the European operations of French retailer Carrefour SA outside France, is leaving the company, reports suggest.

The European markets fell on Tuesday after UBS reported its fourth consecutive quarterly loss and Royal Bank of Scotland said it would join the government's asset protection scheme.

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