European stocks are expected to see a muted open at the start of the trading week as investors continue to focus on inflation concerns and bitcoin’s moves lower.
London’s FTSE is seen opening 7 points higher at 7,025, France’s CAC 40 up 4 points at 6,383 and Italy’s FTSE MIB 42 points higher at 24,760, according to IG.
It looks set to be a quieter trading day in Europe with markets closed in Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium and Austria for the Whit Monday public holiday. Other events in focus on Monday include the EU’s special meeting of the European Council at which Covid-19, the environment and EU-U.K. relations are set to be discussed.
The muted open for European markets reflects caution elsewhere; U.S. stock index futures were little changed during overnight trading on Sunday, after the S&P 500 posted its second negative week in a row.
U.S. stocks are coming off a mixed week which saw the Dow post its fourth negative week in five, while the S&P registered two straight weeks of losses for the first time since February. The Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, gained 0.31% last week, snapping a four-week losing streak.
Despite the tech-heavy index’s weekly gain, however, it ended Friday’s session in the red as bitcoin prices once again moved lower, putting pressure on the wider technology sector.
The cryptocurrency’s sell-off continued on Sunday, with bitcoin dropping around 16% to under $32,000, according to data from Coin Metrics. On Wednesday, bitcoin prices tumbled to just above $30,000, dropping to the lowest level since late January.
Meanwhile, Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Monday, with markets in Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia advancing.
There are no major European earnings out Monday, data releases include Irish retail sales for April and Russian unemployment data for April.
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– CNBC’s Pippa Stevens contributed to this market report.