The European markets are poised to open lower on Monday as China concerns lingered and the prospects of a rate increase by the Federal Reserve put investors in a defensive mood. Additionally, uncertainty surrounding elections in Greece intensified after President Prokopis Pavlopoulos signed a decree dissolving the country's parliament and called for snap elections on September 20.The U.K. market remains closed today for a public holiday.
Asian stocks are mostly lower as a fresh sell-off in Chinese equities after two days of strong gains rekindled worries on China's growth. China will release tomorrow official PMI for August and investors wait to see if the world's second largest economy is heading for a hard landing.
China's Shanghai Composite index pared early losses and is currently down about 1 percent, while Australia's All Ordinaries index is losing 1.2 percent and Japan's Nikkei index is down 1.3 percent.
Commodities such as oil and copper dropped in Asian deals while the safe haven Japanese yen strengthened in response to soft domestic industrial output data. The dollar drifted lower versus the euro as well as investors await fresh clues on the outlook for Federal Reserve policy.
In economic releases, German retail sales rose more than expected in July, figures from Destatis revealed. Retail sales, a closely watched measure of household confidence, grew 1.4 percent on a monthly basis in July after falling by a revised 1 percent in June. Economists had forecast sales to increase 1.2 percent in July.
Investors eye flash Eurozone inflation data later today for further direction. Across the Atlantic, investors will scrutinize Friday's jobs report more closely to see whether central bank officials have room to raise interest rates at their Sept.16-17 meeting.
A slew of reports on manufacturing and service sector activity, construction spending, international trade and the Fed's Beige Book survey may also offer important clues about the pace of economic recovery in the world's largest economy.
In domestic corporate news, HSBC Holdings Plc said Saturday that it has processed all of the 275,000 payments from U.K. business customers that it failed to complete on Friday after a software problem caused delays.
Media reports indicate that Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp will buy back the 19.9 percent stake it sold to Volkswagen AG after an international court settled a dispute between the automakers over their soured partnership.
Belgian insurance company Ageas said that it agreed to sell its life insurance business in Hong Kong to JD Capital (Beijing Tongchuangjiuding Investment Management Co.) for a cash consideration of HKD 10.688 billion or 1.230 billion euros.
Dutch digital security provider Gemalto NV has been selected by Colombian mobile network operator Tigo to deliver a suite of unique M2M solutions in Latin America.
The European markets pared early losses to end mixed on Friday after one of the most tumultuous weeks in recent memory. France's CAC 40 index rose 0.4 percent and the FTSE 100 of the U.K. advanced 0.9 percent, while the German DAX slid 0.2 percent.
U.S. stocks ended narrowly mixed showing little change on Friday after comments from Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer suggested that a September rate hike is still on the table. A slew of economic reports painted a mixed picture of the economy, with personal income and spending increasing moderately in July, while a gauge of consumer confidence declined to a three-month low in August.
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