Europe seeks direction

EUROPE SEEKS DIRECTION (0744 GMT)

European shares look set to start the first full week of December with no clear direction but China's easing of COVID-19 restrictions should keep main indices supported near recent highs.

Euro STOXX 50, DAX and FTSE futures moved around parity and were last down 0.1% and U.S. contracts also eased slightly. The Asian session was more buoyant after more Chinese cities announced an easing of coronavirus curbs.

The macro data calendar is light and so is newsflow on the European corporate front. Vodafone though could grab attention after saying its CEO Nick Read would step down and be replaced by finance chief Margherita Della Valle.

Among mid-caps, a big slump is in store for Flatex after the online German broker cut its guidance. China-exposed stocks like miners finally could get support from the reopening measures in the world's No.2 economy.

(Danilo Masoni)

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CAPPED (0703 GMT)

The Fed is in blackout and the World Cup is starting to get serious.

And this week's calendar is relatively light, leaving traders free to focus on the soccer, save for the U.S. ISM services survey and European retail sales data on Monday, and central bank meetings in Canada and Australia later in the week.

Piecemeal easing of China's strict COVID-19 curbs kept the dollar in retreat in Asia, while the yuan USDCNY jumped to the strong side of 7-per-dollar for the first time in 2-1/2 months. Oil BRN1! rose and the Hang Seng HSI leapt 3.5%.

Positioning suggests bets against the dollar remain pretty light, and even lightened a little bit last week. (0#NETUSDFX=)

Frustration and confusion yet remain on the ground in China. Beijing has dropped testing requirements for public transport, but entry to many buildings still requires negative results.

Protests persist here and there, though markets are staying optimistic on the momentum. Morgan Stanley, on Monday, was the latest big investment house to turn bullish.

Monday in Europe also marks the beginning of the G7's $60-a-barrel price cap on Russian oil. It's not clear what that means for oil supply and prices, because Russia says it won't abide by the measure, even if that means cutting production.

On the pitch, Asia's last contenders, Japan and South Korea, take on Croatia and Brazil, respectively.

Key developments that could influence markets on Monday:

Final November global PMIs, Eurozone retail sales, U.S. durable goods orders, U.S. ISM non-manufacturing PMI

(Tom Westbrook)

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