European stocks inches higher ahead of ECB meeting

European stock markets opened slightly higher earlier on Wednesday after news of a potential delay in a COVID-19 vaccine and a slump in U.S. tech stocks ahead of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) policy meeting on Thursday.

Germany’s DAX futures rose 1.1%, while CAC futures in France gained 0.9%. FTSE futures in the United Kingdom gained 1.2%.

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca saw its stocks drop by 0.4% after it had announced late Thursday that it had paused its COVID-19 testing after one of its patients developed an unexplained illness. However, investors remained supportive of AstraZeneca’s decision, who said that the pause was “a routine action which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials.”

Tech stocks continued its rout into Tuesday, resulting in large losses overnight in Wall Street.

Meanwhile, investors are eyeing an ECB policy meeting that would be held on Thursday.