BANGKOK (AP) โ European stocks fell after a mixed session in Asia as Chinese markets reopened Monday after a long Lunar New Year holiday.
US futures rose slightly while oil prices fell. Markets will be closed on Monday in the United States for President's Day.
Germany's DAX lost 0.4% to 17,056.23 and Paris' CAC 40 lost 0.5% to 7,729.47. In London, the FTSE 100 fell 0.1% to 7,705.28.
In Asian trading, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.1% to 16,155.61 on heavy selling in technology and property stocks, despite a flurry of announcements by Chinese state banks about loan plans for worth billions of dollars for real estate projects.
Major developer Country Garden fell 4.2% and Sino-Ocean Group Holding slumped 3.9%. China Vanke lost 3.8%.
The Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.6% to 2,910.54.
"The reopening of China's markets after the Lunar New Year holiday typically attracts attention, given China's significant influence on global trade and economic activity," Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a report. "However, market reaction has been muted, possibly influenced by the US holiday and overall quiet week for US data."
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell less than 0.1% to 38,470.38.
Shares of major video game maker Nintendo sank 5.8% following unconfirmed reports that the successor to the Switch console would not be delivered in 2024.
Elsewhere in Asia, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1% to 7,665.10 and Seoul's Kospi rose 1.2% to 2,680.26. The Bangkok SET rose 0.1% and India's Sensex rose 0.4%.
On Wall Street on Friday, the S&P 500 fell 0.5% from its all-time high set the previous day and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%. The Nasdaq composite sank 0.8%.
a report on inflation at wholesale level gave the latest reminder that the battle against rising prices is not over yet. Prices rose more in January than economists expected, and the figures followed a similar report earlier in the week that showed costs of living for American consumers rose more than expected.
The data kept the door closed on hopes that the Federal Reserve could begin cutting interest rates in March, as traders had expected. It also dampened bets that a move by the Fed to ease conditions in the economy and financial markets could come as early as May.
Higher rates and yields make borrowing more expensive, slowing the economy and hurting investment prices.
In the meantime, the hope is that the economy will remain resilient despite the challenge of high interest rates. That would allow companies to generate earnings growth that can help prop up stock prices.
A preliminary report on Thursday suggested that confidence among American consumers is improving, although not as much as economists had expected. That's key because consumer spending makes up the majority of the economy.
In other trading on Monday, benchmark U.S. crude oil lost 82 cents to $77.64 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, lost 89 cents to $82.58 a barrel.
The US dollar fell to 149.92 Japanese yen from 150.16 yen. The euro fell to $1.0776 from $1.0778.
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