Europe seen higher, earning in focus

European equities are expected to open higher Wednesday as investors await a slew of earnings reports.

Investors in Europe will be watching corporate report cards from Sainsbury's, Prudential, Legal & General, JD Wetherspoon, Imperial Tobacco, GlaxoSmithKline, Societe Generale, Credit Agricole, AXA and AB InBev.

In Asia, Chinese equities outperformed the region on the back of robust data from its services sector, while other Asian bourses were on the back foot following an unimpressive lead from Wall Street.

On Tuesday, U.S. shares shaved off about 1 percent as investors eyed higher bond yields and an unexpectedly wide March U.S. trade deficit, which sparked concerns about economic growth for the first quarter.

Greece continues to dog the headlines, as talks continue between the debt-stricken country and its lenders over reforms. Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said after talks in Paris and Brussels on Tuesday that he expected euro zone finance ministers to acknowledge next Monday progress towards a cash-for-reform deal, opening the way to easing Athens' liquidity crisis, Reuters reported.

In other news, the European Union agreed a deal on Tuesday to start reforming the world's biggest carbon market from January 1, 2019, Reuters reported, opening the way for a more radical shake-up of the trading system that is meant to be the central plank of EU climate policy.

Just a day before polling kicks off in the U.K., the incumbent Prime Minister David Cameron and Ed Miliband, the leader of the opposition Labour party, are level in most polls, showing that another coalition government is a highly probable outcome of the election.