European stocks are expected to open cautiously on Wednesday amid renewed Middle East tensions and investor anxiety ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting. The Fed is widely expected to leave policy rates unchanged, with traders looking for signals about future meetings. Brent crude futures jumped nearly 4 percent toward $88 a barrel as hostilities continued in the Middle East and industry data pointed to tight global oil supplies. Gold was little changed at $4,028 an ounce. Overnight, U.S. stocks ended mostly higher, with the Dow surging 1 percent and the S&P 500 edging up 0.2 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid 0.2 percent.