Fluctuating oil prices and inflation data will hold the attention of range-bound European equity markets this week, as investors look for reassurance that politics are not knocking global economic recovery off track.
Corporate factors will be scarce, as the earnings season tails to a close, but full-year results from the world's number two luxury goods firm Richemont SA will focus attention on consumer sentiment on Thursday.
A trading update from heavyweight British bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, on Wednesday is also in the spotlight.
Despite Opec ministers' agreement to raise output on Thursday, high oil prices will continue to jangle investors' nerves, especially against the backdrop of instability in Saudi Arabia and as the handover of power in Iraq approaches.
A summit of the Group of Eight industrial nations will be watched for signals concerning the Middle East. Inflation data released in the United States will also be scrutinised closely.
But markets will first have to digest US non-farm payroll data, seen as a key indicator of the strength of the US recovery, when numbers are released on Friday.
A Reuters poll forecasts a rise of 216,000 jobs when the data is released at 1230 GMT, down on April's 288,000 rise.
Drug-makers will be eyed early in the week as the American Society of Clinical Oncology holds its annual meeting in New Orleans on June 5-8. Clinical data on key products is expected from Roche and GlaxoSmithKline, among others.
British utilities Northumbrian water and Severn Trent release full-year results this week, while holiday firms Club Med and First Choice both report on the first half.
Annual earnings from printing equipment maker Heidelberger Druckmaschinen are due on Tuesday, followed by French drinks maker Remy Cointreau on Thursday.
The most recent European earnings season has been a strong one and analysts are continuing to revise their profit estimates for 2004 higher. But many see a peak in earnings growth ahead as rising interest rates and high oil prices start to bite.
Ministers from Opec, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, agreed this week to raise production by two million barrels a day from July and promised to add another 500,000 barrels a day in August, to curb run-away prices.
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