European Shares Set For Lackluster Start After Yellen’s Comments

European stocks are seen opening flat to slightly lower on Monday as investors assess comments by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on higher interest rates and await key U.S. inflation data due later in the week for directional cues.

Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields ticked up and the dollar rose after Yellen said that President Joe Biden’s $4 trillion spending plan would be good for the U.S., even if it contributes to rising inflation and results in higher interest rates.

Meanwhile, the Group of Seven rich nations on Sunday endorsed a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15 percent to make multinational companies pay more tax and impose levies on U.S. tech giants such as Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook Inc.

Asian markets gave up early gains as data showed China’s trade data for May showed slower exports but faster imports.

Oil pulled back from multi-year highs as investors await the outcome of this week’s talks between Iran and world powers over a nuclear deal.

Bitcoin traded around $36,000 as China banned several influential social media accounts focused on crypto-related content over the weekend.

Factory orders data from Germany and investor confidence figures from euro area are due later in the session, headlining a light day for the European economic news.

U.S. stocks ended firmly in positive territory on Friday after the Labor Department report showed job growth in the U.S. reaccelerated in May but still fell short of economist estimates, helping ease inflation and tapering jitters.

Non-farm payroll employment jumped by 559,000 jobs in May after climbing by an upwardly revised 278,000 jobs in April. Economists had expected employment to surge by 650,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate fell to 5.8 percent in May from 6.1 percent in April, while economists had expected the unemployment rate to dip to 5.9 percent.

The Dow rose half a percent, the S&P 500 gained 0.9 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index rallied 1.5 percent.

European stocks eked out modest gains on Friday amid continued optimism about global economic recovery.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.4 percent. The German DAX also rose about 0.4 percent while France’s CAC 40 index and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 both edged up around 0.1 percent.