European stock futures edge lower; manufacturing PMIs in focus

European stock markets are anticipated to begin modestly down on Monday, reversing some of last week’s solid gains on a dip in US inflation as investors analyse mixed Chinese factory data.

At 06:00 GMT, the DAX futures contract in Germany was 0.1% lower, the CAC 40 futures contract in France was 0.1% lower, and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the United Kingdom was 0.2% lower.

The main European and Wall Street indexes finished higher on Friday after the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure fell more than predicted in May, bolstering optimism that the US central bank will be less hawkish than expected in the run-up to the July rate-setting meeting.

Back in Europe, positive news is likely to be tougher to come by, as additional manufacturing PMI data is expected to reveal that the sector is in decline throughout the continent.

Germany, the eurozone’s major industrial base, is likely to report a June PMI of 41.0, down from 43.2 in May.

Also of note will be a speech by European Central Bank policymaker Joachim Nagel at a finance conference, with the generally hawkish head of the Bundesbank likely to press the case for additional interest rate rises to battle inflation in his nation, which remains elevated.