European Stock Futures Mixed; Inflation Data Looms Large By Investing.com – Investing.com

European Stock Futures Mixed; Inflation Data Looms Large By Investing.com – Investing.com

© Reuters.

By Peter Nurse

Investing.com -- European stock markets are expected to open in a subdued fashion Monday, with investors looking for direction following the European Central Bank’s policy decision and ahead of key inflation data.

At 2:05 AM ET (0605 GMT), the contract in Germany traded 0.3% higher, the contract in the U.K. rose 0.2%, but in France dropped 0.2%.

The ECB decided last week to slow down its in the fourth quarter, citing higher inflation and stronger gross domestic growth within the region.

ECB President Christine Lagarde was eager to stress that the move wasn’t the start of tapering, but investors will focus on comments from the Chief Economist Philip Lane, in particular, this week for more insights into the thinking at the central bank.

The timing of when central banks choose to scale back economic stimulus is a key driver of market sentiment, and with this in mind the latest inflation releases from the and the on Tuesday will be studied carefully.

Ahead of that, the handover from Asia was generally negative Monday, with Chinese hit hard after the country’s industry minister said consolidation in the sector was