European Shares Seen Up As US House Passes Stopgap Funding Bill

(RTTNews) - European stocks may open on a firm note Monday after U.S. lawmakers released a stopgap spending bill to keep the government funded until early March, greatly reducing the chances of an imminent government shutdown.

That said, trading volumes are likely to remain thin due to a federal holiday in the U.S. to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior.

Asian markets traded mixed after China's central bank unexpectedly kept lending rates steady.

Financial markets showed little reaction to the victory of the ruling, pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan.

It's a busy week for markets, with a slew of U.S. and Chinese data and corporate earnings likely to garner investor attention.

After officials last week attempted to temper any expectation of a looming rate cut, investors now look ahead to U.S. reports on retail sales, industrial production, import and export prices, housing starts and consumer sentiment along with a speech by Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller this week for further direction.

On the earnings front, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are among those reporting their quarterly results.

Elsewhere, key economic indicators from China, including GDP data and Japanese inflation figures are awaited this week.

The World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting takes place in Davos from 15-19 January 2024, with traders awaiting guidance from a host of ECB policymakers, including President Christine Lagarde.

The European Central Bank will have key data by June to decide on the first of a likely series of interest rate cuts, ECB chief economist Philip Lane said in an interview over the weekend.

The European economic calendar remains light, with annual GDP data from Germany and industrial production numbers from the euro area awaited later in the session.

The dollar ticked lower in lackluster trade, helping gold prices push higher. Oil prices were seeing modest gains after a U.S. fighter aircraft skillfully thwarted an anti-ship missile directed at an American Navy vessel in the Southern Red Sea on Sunday.

U.S. stocks ended little changed on Friday as investors reacted to mixed corporate earnings and cooler-than-expected producer price inflation data.

The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite both inched up marginally while the Dow slipped 0.3 percent.

European stocks closed higher on Friday after upbeat U.K. GDP data and dovish comments from ECB President Christine Lagarde.

The pan European STOXX 600 climbed 0.8 percent. The German DAX rallied 1 percent, France's CAC 40 jumped 1.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 0.6 percent.