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European stocks may open on a steady note Monday as more Chinese cities relaxed some anti-COVID measures and testing mandates over the weekend, helping improve investors’ appetite for riskier assets. <\/p>\n
While China’s yuan firmed past the closely watched 7-per-dollar level, the U.S. dollar extended its declines into a fifth straight session to hit an over five-month low on hopes for a less hawkish Fed. <\/p>\n
The final Fed meeting of 2022 will happen on December 13-14, with the central bank expected to tone down its rate hike to 50 basis points. <\/p>\n
The European Central Bank meets the day after, with board member Fran\u00e7ois Villeroy de Galhau saying on Sunday that he is in favor of a 50-basis point hike to 2 percent. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, central banks in Australia, Canada and India are all expected to raise their rates at meetings this week.<\/p>\n
Gold hit a four-month high, while oil prices jumped more than 1 percent after OPEC+ nations reaffirmed their output targets.<\/p>\n
An EU embargo on seaborne Russian oil will likely take effect today after the Group of Seven clinched a last-minute deal to cap the price of Russian crude at $60 per barrel.<\/p>\n
Asian markets<\/span> traded mostly higher, with Chinese and Kong stocks leading regional gains.<\/p>\n The services sector in China contracted at a faster pace in November, the latest survey from Caixin showing today with a PMI score of 46.7, down from 48.4 in October.<\/p>\n U.S. stocks ended narrowly mixed on Friday as robust jobs data added to uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.<\/p>\n Non-farm payroll employment beat expectations, adding 263,000 jobs in November led by the service sector.<\/p>\n While the jobless rate held steady at 3.7 percent, the retail trade and transportation and warehousing categories both lost jobs last month, highlighting weak spots in the economy<\/span>.<\/p>\n The Dow inched up 0.1 percent, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.1 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite eased 0.2 percent.<\/p>\n European markets ended Friday’s session mostly lower after having hit a six-month high in the previous session.<\/p>\n The pan-European STOXX 600 eased 0.2 percent. The German DAX rose 0.3 percent, France’s CAC 40 index slid 0.2 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 finished marginally lower. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n