London and Frankfurt opened lower. Tokyo, Hong Kong and South Korea fell while Shanghai gained. Oil prices rose more than $2 per barrel while the euro edged lower.
Gazprom's announcement puts European stocks under "heavy pressure," said Chris Turner of ING in a report. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 future was off less than 0.1%. That for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained less than 0.1%. European economies face gas shortages after their governments agreed to wind down purchases from Russia to punish the Kremlin for invading Ukraine.
Meanwhile, traders are uneasily watching the Fed after chair Jerome Powell said Aug. 26 interest rates have to stay elevated to rein in surging inflation. That dashed hopes the Fed might back off due to signs U.S. economic activity is cooling. The U.S. market has given up much of the gains made in July and August when traders hoped the Fed might ease up.