European Shares Seen Lower Amid EU Political Uncertainty

(RTTNews) - European stocks are seen opening on a sluggish note Monday as a snap election call in France sparked wider political concerns and weighed on the euro.

Stock futures slipped as French President Emmanuel Macron called a shock election after being trounced in the European Union vote by the far-right parties.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's far-right party has won European elections in Italy with a strong 28 percent of the votes.

Asian markets traded mixed in thin holiday trade, with Japan's Nikkei rising in the wake of a slightly positive revision in gross domestic product data. Markets in China, Hong Kong and Australia were closed for public holidays.

The dollar rebounded and gold was little changed below $2,300 per ounce while oil prices rose slightly after three straight weeks of losses.

The Federal Reserve is due to announce its latest monetary policy decision on Wednesday.

While no change in interest rates is expected, the accompanying policy statement may reveal more about the timing and pace of interest-rate cuts later this year.

Upcoming U.S. reports on consumer price inflation, producer prices, import and export prices, consumer sentiment and inflation expectations may also garner investor attention as the week progresses.

U.S. stocks ended modestly lower on Friday as a stronger-than-expected jobs report pushed Treasury yields higher and raised doubts about whether the Fed will be able to cut interest rates this year.

The benchmark 10-year yield rose 14 basis points to more than 4.4 percent after data showed non-farm payroll employment surged by 272,000 jobs in May, well above the 185,000 expected by some analysts, and up from 165,000 in April.

Average hourly earnings were higher than expected as well, while the jobless rate rose to 4 percent, the first time it has breached that level since January 2022.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.1 percent while the Dow and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite both eased around 0.2 percent.

European stocks closed lower on Friday as U.S. rate cut hopes faded.

The pan European STOXX 600 dipped 0.2 percent. The German DAX, France's CAC 40 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index all dropped around half a percent.