European stocks set for muted open as data and earnings come into focus

• April's ZEW economic sentiment index for Germany and the euro zone is published at 10 a.m. London time.
• Earnings season also gets underway in Europe, with French luxury group LVMH reporting after the bell, while the U.K.'s JD Sports and Switzerland's Givaudan report Tuesday morning.

LONDON — European markets are set for a flat open on Tuesday as investors await key economic data and the beginning of corporate earnings season.

Britain's FTSE 100 is seen around 4 points lower at 6,885, Germany's DAX is set to climb around 21 points to 15,236 and France's CAC 40 is expected to edge around 7 points higher to 6,169, according to IG data.

Shares in Asia-Pacific mostly inched higher overnight following a muted session stateside Monday. U.S. stock futures were little changed in premarket trade ahead of a highly anticipated inflation report set for release before Tuesday's opening bell on Wall Street.

Back in Europe, U.K. GDP grew 0.4% in February from the previous month according to official data published Tuesday, slightly missing economist expectations of a 0.6% expansion. Manufacturing output rose by 1.3%, outstripping expectations for a 0.5% monthly gain, while services output grew 0.2%, missing projections for 0.6% growth.

April's ZEW economic sentiment index for Germany and the euro zone is published at 10 a.m.

Earnings season also gets underway in Europe, with French luxury group LVMH reporting after the bell while, the U.K.'s JD Sports and French Connection and Switzerland's Givaudan all report Tuesday morning.

Airbus on Monday announced that both its defense and technology chiefs will step down on July 1 and appointed a new chief operating officer, in a shake-up that CEO Guillaume Faury said would scrap the split ownership of technical resources and lead to greater cohesion within the planemaker's ranks.

Meanwhile, China Eastern Airline will increase its stake in Air France KLM after contributing to a $1.2 billion share issue, the Franco-Dutch airline group announced Monday.

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