European stocks steady ahead of earnings season

LONDON: Europe's major stock markets steadied Monday as investors awaited the next earnings season and digested remarks from the head of the Federal Reserve.

London nudged lower in afternoon trading, while Frankfurt and Paris were barely in the black.

As trading began in New York, the Dow Jones index showed a slight loss.

Asian equities declined earlier in the day after Fed boss Jerome Powell reiterated his view that the economy was improving -- but warned the deadly coronavirus still posed a risk.

Bitcoin climbed before Wednesday's stock market flotation of Coinbase, the largest US cryptocurrency exchange.

"European markets are kicking off a new week in somewhat subdued fashion, with the recent focus on vaccination efforts and relative levels of lockdown giving way to a week where earnings seen to take precedence," said analyst Joshua Mahony at trading firm IG.

"With US first-quarter earnings season underway this week, we finally see a measure of just how far companies have come since the onset of the crisis.

"The US banks take centre stage for this first week," he said, noting investors would closely follow news of any exposure to troubled hedge fund Archegos Capital Management.

JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs will post their first-quarter numbers on Wednesday, followed by Morgan Stanley on Friday.

Investors remain hopeful of more gains as Covid-19 vaccines are rolled out around the world and US President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus filters through to the economy -- with another big spending package in the works.

Meanwhile, Powell told CBS television the world's top economy was getting back into gear, though he remained cautious.

"The outlook has brightened substantially," he said. "I would say again though, there really are risks out there.

"The principal risk to our economy right now really is that the disease would spread again.

"What we're seeing now is really an economy that seems to be at an inflection point. And that's because of widespread vaccination and strong fiscal support, strong monetary policy support."

Powell and other Fed policymakers anticipate that the recovery will fuel inflation.

But despite long-running market worries that the bank will be forced to lift interest rates, they insist that monetary policy will remain ultra-loose until the economy is well on the mend.

Powell's remarks and stronger European vaccination numbers helped boost oil prices.

Elsewhere Monday, Bitcoin stood at almost $60,400 on a renewed wave of investor interest. It hit a record of $61,742 in mid-March.

Key figures around 1345 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3 percent at 6,895.17 points

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.1 percent at 6,177.24

Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP less than 0.1 percent at 15,243.45

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,972.25

New York - Dow: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 33,773.31

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.8 percent at 29,538.73 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.9 percent at 28,453.28 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 1.1 percent at 3,412.95 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1913 from $1.1899 at 2100 GMT

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3751 from $1.3707

Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.64 pence from 86.81 pence

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 109.36 yen from 109.67 yen

Brent North Sea crude: UP 2.1 percent at $64.25 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 2.3 percent at $60.67 per barrel