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Investing.com – European stock markets traded modestly lower on Monday, with a quiet start to the new year as the US was on holiday, but Spanish banking giant Santander made headlines when it announced a new stock buy.
As of 3:15 a.m. ET (8:15 p.m. Japan time), German stocks were down 0.2%, French stocks were down 0.3%, and British stocks were down 0.1%.
PMI scheduled to be released this week
The new week begins on a negative note, reversing some of the previous week's gains as US investors are likely to be lost in light of the President's Day holiday, and investors consolidate in thin trade. I did.
Monday's economic data will also be largely blank, with only new car registration statistics for January from most European countries scheduled to be released later in the session.
Even more interesting is the important news and business/consumer sentiment survey released later in the week, which will give investors an idea of the state of the regional economy as they look to the European Central Bank to start lowering interest rates before the end of the year. That should be a clue. To aid recovery.
There will also be a number of ECB speakers this week, including the President at Friday's Eurogroup press conference.
China left its key policy interest rate unchanged as expected on Sunday, with uncertainty over the timing of Federal Reserve easing limiting Beijing's room to maneuver.
The U.S. central bank kept interest rates on hold earlier this month, but investors are now delaying the start of Fed monetary easing from at least March until mid-year because of weak inflation.
Santander announces share buyback
Santander bank Shares in (BME:) fell 0.8% after the Spanish bank, the second largest financial institution in the eurozone, announced a new share buyback program worth 1.46 billion euros (1 euro = $1.0785). Rose.
Corporate earnings continued this week, with the U.S. retail sector and chip maker Nvidia (NASDAQ:) numbers also in the spotlight after the U.S. market closed on Wednesday.
Nvidia's results could be a pivotal test of market sentiment, given the company's size and centrality to excitement over the economic promise of AI.
Oil prices fall due to concerns about US demand
Oil prices fell on Monday, retreating from recent gains, after persistently high U.S. inflation brought concerns about the demand outlook in the world's biggest oil consumer back into focus.
By 3:15 ET, futures were trading 0.7% lower at $77.88 per barrel, while the contract was down 0.8% at $82.82 per barrel.
There is little impetus for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in early 2024 after better-than-expected U.S. consumer and producer inflation data released last week, with economic activity expected to remain weak for longer than expected. There were growing concerns that it could be suppressed.
Both crude oil benchmark contracts settled higher on Friday against a backdrop of rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, raising concerns about supply issues in the oil-rich region.
It also rose 0.4% to $2,032.40 an ounce, trading 0.1% higher at $1.0786.
