European Shares To See Cautious Start As Key Inflation Data Looms

(RTTNews) - European stocks may open on a sluggish note Monday as investors seek cues from earnings and key inflation readings from the world's largest economies this week. China's trade balance figures on Tuesday and inflation data due on Wednesday will give clues to the country's recovery trajectory.

The U.S. consumer price inflation report for July is slated to be released on Thursday and the producer price inflation report on Friday as investors seek further clarity on the path of inflation and the health of the world's largest economy.

On the earnings front, Disney in the U.S., Alibaba Group in China and Sony and SoftBank in Japan are due to unveil their financial results this week.

Asian markets were flat to slightly lower in cautious trade as the dollar and Treasury yields firmed ahead of key inflation readings.

Oil and gold prices edged lower in Asian trade on dollar strength after a mixed U.S. jobs report kept investors guessing on the Fed policy outlook.

U.S. stocks fluctuated before ending lower on Friday as Apple reported another quarter of declining revenue and U.S. jobs growth came in weaker than forecast in July.

Data showed non-farm payroll employment rose by 187,000 jobs in July while economists had expected an increase of 200,000 jobs.

Downward revisions to jobs data in May and June suggested that demand for labour was slowing.

The Dow and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite both slid around 0.4 percent while the S&P 500 dropped half a percent.

European stocks ended on a firm note Friday after a three-day sell-off. The pan European STOXX 600 inched up 0.3 percent.

The German DAX edged up 0.4 percent, France's CAC 40 climbed 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added half a percent.