By Peter Nurse 

Investing.com – European stock markets are expected to open lower Monday, weighed by sharp losses in Asia amid concerns about the health of property giant China Evergrande Group (HK:) and ahead of the week’s crucial Federal Reserve meeting.

At 2 AM ET (0600 GMT), the contract in Germany traded 0.9% lower, in France dropped 2.1% and the contract in the U.K. fell 0.8%.

European equities have received a negative handover from Asia, despite China, Japan and South Korea being on holiday, with Hong Kong’s dropping more than 3%, dragged down by the continued dumping of shares in Chinese property company Evergrande.

With a Thursday bond interest payment and growing concerns that China could default on $300 billion in liabilities, investors seem to have a negative view of the country’s business prospects.

The week also sees a number of central banks hold policy-setting meetings, including the , the and the . However, attention will turn to the. The U.S. central banking could make another move toward tapering during its two-day meeting on Tuesday.

Investors will want to know if the Fed considers the U.S. to be strong enough for them to begin reducing its massive monetary support during the pandemic. But, consensus suggests that an actual announcement may be delayed to the November and December meetings.

Back in Europe, Lufthansa (DE:) will be in the spotlight after the German airline said on Sunday it would launch a capital increase that was expected to raise 2.14 billion euros ($2.51 billion) to pay back part of a state bailout it received during the coronavirus crisis.

As the biggest consumer of crude oil, the U.S. saw its supply rise. Crude prices dropped. The country’s rose by nine to 512 in the week to Sept. 17, its highest since April 2020 and double the level from this time last year, Baker Hughes said on Friday.

As of Friday, 23% of U.S. Gulf of Mexico crude oil output was still offline, a significant improvement on the 28% recorded Thursday, two weeks after Hurricane Ida struck.

In addition, the dollar climbed to an all-time high of $33 per barrel three weeks before the Fed meeting. The currency makes commodities less expensive.

By 2 AM ET, futures traded 0.6% lower at $71.36 a barrel, while the contract fell 0.5% to $74.98. 

Additionally, fell 0.1% to $1,750.35/oz, while traded 0.1% lower at 1.1717.