European Stock Futures Lower After China’s Latest Attack on Tech By Investing.com

By Peter Nurse 

Investing.com – European stock markets are expected to open lower Monday, after a negative lead from Asia that reflected dismay at China’s latest move against technology companies.

At 2:05 AM ET (0605 GMT), the contract in Germany traded 0.4% lower, in France dropped 0.4% and the contract in the U.K. fell 0.4%.

European markets have had a negative handover from Asia Monday after the Chinese government continued its regulatory clampdown, releasing plans over the weekend to reform the $100 billion , one of the country’s most desired investment plays in recent years. 

Attention for much of this week is likely to turn further west, with the Federal Reserve, set to hold a two-day , concluding on Wednesday, which could see the U.S. central bank announcing when it plans to start scaling back its hefty asset-purchasing program.

Additionally, this week is scheduled to be one of the busiest for earnings reports, with Tesla (NASDAQ:) due after the close Monday, and then the big tech giants Apple (NASDAQ:), Alphabet (NASDAQ:) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:) on Tuesday, while Facebook (NASDAQ:) and Amazon (NASDAQ:) report later in the week.

Back in Europe, Ryanair (LON:) will be in the spotlight after Europe’s largest low-cost carrier raised its forecast for full-year traffic on strong summer bookings as it reported a smaller first-quarter net loss than expected. That comes against a backdrop of data that suggest the latest wave of Covid-19 cases was close to peaking in the U.K. before it lifted restrictions on social distancing last week. The seven-day average for case numbers has fallen over 20% in the last week.

Dutch health technology company Koninklijke Philips (AS:) also beat second-quarter earnings expectations as the pandemic continued to spur demand for hospital equipment, while French luxury goods giant LVMH (PA:) is also scheduled to offer up numbers later.

Bloomberg reported that Swedish-Swiss electrical equipment company ABB (SIX:) is in advanced talks to sell its mechanical power transmission business, known as Dodge, to RBC Bearings (NASDAQ:) for between $2.5 billion and $3 billion. 

The economic data slate is quiet Monday, with the German for July the main release. It’s expected to show a small improvement, although the expectations component is likely to slip as Covid cases rise.

Elsewhere, oil prices weakened Monday after eking out a small gain over the course of last week as investors assessed the outlook for demand amid a Covid-19 resurgence across much of the globe.

At 2:05 AM ET, futures traded 1.2% lower at $71.28 a barrel, while the contract fell 1.1% to $72.60.

Additionally, rose 0.3% to $1,807.60/oz, while traded 0.1% higher at 1.1779.