European stocks may struggle for direction at open on Monday as investors react to a spike in coronavirus cases across Asia over the weekend.
Greater Sydney has entered a two-week lockdown and Indonesia is battling record high cases, while a lockdown is set to be extended in Malaysia.
Thailand announced new restrictions in Bangkok and other provinces to contain a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Asian markets were mostly lower as traders took a breather after last week’s rally.
Investors also watched negotiations over an U.S. infrastructure deal and awaited key manufacturing data from around the world for directional cues.
Gold prices hit a one-week low, weighed down by a bounce in the dollar after Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren said the Fed might consider an interest-rate hike from near zero as soon as late 2022.
Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said high inflation readings will not last and Americans will return to the labor market in large numbers in the fall.
Oil hovered around 2-1/2 year highs on hopes for demand recovery and amid expectations that OPEC+ will be cautious in returning more crude to the market from August.
It’s a quiet day ahead on the European and U.S. economic data front.
U.S. stocks ended Friday’s session broadly higher as investors picked up shares of companies mostly tied to an economic recovery.
A key U.S. inflation measure closely watched by the Federal Reserve posted its biggest year-on-year increase in May since 1992, but the rate of increase slowed since April.
The S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent to reach a fresh record high and the Dow gained 0.7 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.1 percent.
European stocks ended mixed on Friday after U.S. President Biden embraced a bipartisan Senate infrastructure deal.
The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.1 percent. The German DAX inched up 0.1 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 added 0.4 percent while France’s CAC 40 index eased 0.1 percent.
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