By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - European stock markets traded largely flat Monday, lacking real direction at the start of a new week which includes key U.S. inflation data, an abundance of central bank speakers and more third-quarter earnings.
At 4:50 AM ET (0850 GMT), the DAX in Germany traded 0.1% lower, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was flat and the CAC 40 in France rose 0.1%.
There are a number of central bankers due to speak this week, with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell of particular interest at 10:30 AM ET (1530 GMT), given the U.S. central bank's move to start tapering bond purchases at its meeting last week.
The Fed stuck to the view that high inflation would prove "transitory" at last week’s meeting, and the market’s belief of this could be tested this week with October CPI numbers expected to hit fresh multi-year highs.
Back in Europe, European Central Bank chief economist Philip Lane started the ball rolling by stating, in an interview with a Spanish newspaper published Monday, that Eurozone inflation will ease next year, repeating the bank's well established message that high price growth is temporary. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has the chance for some damage limitation to the bank's communications strategy, after it backed off a widely-expected interest rate increase.
In the corporate sector, Covestro (DE:1COV) stock rose 2.5% after the German chemicals maker raised its full-year profit guidance for the third time this year, after reporting an 89% jump in third-quarter earnings.
On the flip side, PostNL (AS:PTNL) stock fell 3.5% after the Dutch postal group posted a drop in earnings in the third quarter, citing slower international volume growth and disruptions in the global supply chain. In France, Bouygues (PA:BOUY) stock fell 4.0% and Engie (PA:ENGIE) stock rose 0.7% after the former agreed to buy Engie's services unit Equans for some $8.2 billion.
The travel sector is also in focus Monday, with Air France KLM (OTC:AFLYY) stock up 1.7%, SAS (ST:SAS) stock up 2.1% and Tui (DE:TUIGn) stock up 0.6%, as the U.S. lifts pandemic travel restrictions that have barred many international visitors since early last year. That comes after Pfizer 's (NYSE:PFE) trial results for its antiviral Covid pill gave travel stocks a fresh boost on Friday.
Crude prices rose Monday after Saudi Aramco (SE:2222) late Friday raised the official selling price for its crude, indicating that it continues to see strong demand despite elevated price levels.
By 4:50 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 1% higher at $82.11 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 0.9% to $83.51.
Additionally, gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,815.50/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.1572.