European stocks are seen opening mixed on Monday despite positive cues from Wall Street and Asia. Miners could be in focus after mining and trading giant Glencore said it would announce asset sales in Australia and Chile. Glencore shares were halted in Hong Kong pending the announcement on proposed asset sale.
Meanwhile, ahead of Wednesday's bid deadline, Anheuser-Busch InBev NV has discussed raising its takeover bid for U.K. brewer SABMiller Plc to about 43 pounds ($66) a share, the Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the discussions.
The focus would also be on Greece as the country faces a 447 million euro payment to the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday.
Asian stocks are mostly higher, although gains remain muted elsewhere outside China and Hong Kong. China's Shanghai Composite index is rallying nearly 4 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is up more than 1 percent after PBOC deputy governor reportedly said the country's stock market correction is almost over.
Investors wait for Chinese trade data, due on Tuesday for further clues about the broader economic outlook. The Japanese market is closed for the Health and Sports Day holiday.
Oil prices rose on Monday after data from oilfield services company Baker Hughes showed U.S. energy firms cut oil rigs for a sixth consecutive week amid a sustained period in low oil prices.
Copper and zinc also edged higher, while gold held steady near a seven-week high, helped by a weaker dollar. There are still two employment reports scheduled for release before the December FOMC meeting and analysts seem to think that the economy needs jobs well above 200,000 per month to increase chances of a December rate hike.
The U.S. earnings season picks up steam this week with Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Intel (INTC), JP Morgan (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), General Electric (GE), Citigroup (C) and Netflix (NFLX) among the companies due to report their results.
On the economic front, investors eye reports on retail sales, consumer and producer price inflation, and industrial production as well as the Fed's Beige Book survey for further clues to the strength of the world's largest economy.
In domestic corporate news, Credit Suisse Group AG plans to cut costs by 7 percent to 10 percent, which would translate into an annual reduction of 1.5 to 2 billion Swiss francs for the group, the Schweiz am Sonntag reported, citing several managers of sub-units in the bank.
Swiss petrochemicals company Ineos said that it has agreed to acquire a strong portfolio of natural gas assets in the North Sea from a UK subsidiary of DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG, which is part of the LetterOne Group.
The European markets closed firmly in positive territory on Friday after rate-setters from the UK to Europe to the US sent signals that interest rates will remain on hold until inflation starts picking up. Miners paced the gainers after Glencore announced production cutbacks. The German DAX rallied 1 percent, France's CAC 40 index rose half a percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 0.7 percent.
U.S. stocks posted modest gains on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average notching a six-session winning streak to close at its highest level in over a month, as investors bet on low rates. Nonetheless, traders seemed somewhat reluctant to make any significant moves in the wake of Alcoa's disappointing earnings results.
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