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European stocks may drift lower at open on Monday as investors weigh an uneven global economic recovery and brace for U.S. earnings reports this week. <\/p>\n
Asian markets<\/span> fell in cautious trade as a resurgence of coronavirus infections in many countries and shortage in vaccine supplies undermined investor confidence in the economic recovery from the pandemic. <\/p>\n Chinese regulators have hit e-commerce giant Alibaba with a massive 18.2 billion yuan ($2.78 billion) fine for abusing its dominant position over rivals and merchants on its e-commerce platforms, but the company said that it accepted the record penalty imposed by the country’s anti-monopoly regulator. <\/p>\n Gold prices fell, weighed down by surging U.S. Treasury yields and a firmer dollar as investors react to stronger-than-expected U.S. producer inflation data and the latest upbeat economic assessment from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. <\/p>\n Powell told CBS in an interview that the U.S. economy<\/span> is poised for an extended period of strong growth and hiring even though the coronavirus still poses some risk.<\/p>\n Oil prices held steady in Asian trade amid hopes that fuel demand is picking up in the United States.<\/p>\n It’s a relatively quiet day on the economic front, with February retail sales data for the Eurozone due out later in the day. The U.S. sells three-, 10- and 30-year Treasuries at the start of the week.<\/p>\n The U.S. earnings season begins this week with major banks like JPMorgan, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley among others reporting results.<\/p>\n U.S. officials and company executives are due to discuss the global shortage of computer chips today. <\/p>\n U.S. stocks rose on Friday as the Fed’s dovish tone, higher-than-expected inflation data and an uptick in Treasury yields added to investor optimism about economic recovery. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control showed nearly 20 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus<\/span>.<\/p>\n The Dow climbed 0.9 percent and the S&P 500 gained 0.8 percent to reach record closing highs while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose half a percent to reach its best closing level in almost two months. <\/p>\n European stocks ended mostly higher on Friday despite some disappointing economic data from the euro area and signs of rising inflation in China.<\/p>\n The pan European Stoxx 600 closed flat with a positive bias. The German DAX edged up 0.2 percent and France’s CAC 40 index inched up 0.1 percent while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.4 percent. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n