LIVE MARKETS-Futures point to small gains on eerily quiet day

Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Thyagaraju Adinarayan. Reach him on Messenger to share your thoughts on market moves: thyagaraju.adinarayan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net FUTURES POINT TO SMALL GAINS ON EERILY QUIET DAY (0658 GMT) European stock futures point to a slightly higher open today in a small relief as endless trade war worries, fresh political turmoil in Italy, Brexit and slowing economic growth have kept investors away from making risky bets. In the trade war, U.S. President Trump again showed no signs of backing down in his tussle with China, declaring on Tuesday a confrontation was necessary even if it caused short-term harm to the U.S. economy. It's fairly quiet on the corporate news side, but we're watching out for the usual market-movers -- trade-related sectors and Italian banks. Philips shares might come under pressure after a Reuters reported that the healthcare giant was warned of suspicious sales of its medical equipment to the Brazilian government nearly a decade before an alleged bribery racket was exposed in the Latin American country. British drugmaker AstraZeneca is expected to open lower after it said immunotherapy treatment Imfinzi did not meet the main goal of a late-stage study for advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Italian media report that talks between Fiat and Renault never stopped could give the battered auto sector some relief. Some key headlines: SIX Swiss Exchange eyes H2 boost from EU bourse row AstraZeneca's Imfinzi misses main goal of advanced lung cancer study Philips, under investigation in U.S. and Brazil, fired whistleblower who warned of graft Alibaba postpones up to $15 bln Hong Kong listing amid protests-sources Hammerson names ex-AIG European finance chief as new CFO BRIEF-Stadler Rail Wins Contract From Polish Railway Company PKP Here's your stock futures snapshot: (Thyagaraju Adinarayan) ***** FLAT AS PANCAKE (0530 GMT) Europe poised for a flat open after yesterday's weak close as investors pull risky bets off the table amid deepening Italian political crisis and weakening global growth. Minutes of the U.S. Fed's last meeting is also something to closely watch out for later today as the endless trade wars has recently raised investors' hopes for a lot more monetary and fiscal stimulus. "It didn’t take too long for the rebound that we’ve seen over the last two to three days to run into trouble, as bond yields rolled over again, and the Italian government fell back into crisis, after Prime Minister Conte resigned, thus opening up the prospect of new elections, and a fresh round of uncertainty over Europe’s third biggest economy," CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson says. Financial spreadbetters IG expect London's FTSE to open 5 points lower at 7,121, Frankfurt's DAX to open 2 points lower at 11,649, and Paris' CAC to open unchanged at 5,344. Conte and deputy PM Salvini​: (Thyagaraju Adinarayan) ***** (Reporting by Danilo Masoni, Josephine Mason and Thyagaraju Adinarayan)