Peter Nurse 

Investing.com: European stock markets will open slightly higher on Monday as investors are wary of the week’s start, which includes key U.S. inflation data releases and remarks from Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve Chairman.

The contract in Germany was 0.3% lower at 2AM ET (0700 GMT), while the one in France rose 0.3%, and that in the United Kingdom rose 0.2%.

This week’s U.S. inflation data will dominate global stock market attention. The strong numbers may be enough to secure an early Federal Reserve rate hike.

On Wednesday, headline CPI is likely to surpass 7% year on year, approaching a 4-decade-high. Data the next day will also show an increase.

Additionally, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to testify Tuesday before a Senate panel at his nomination hearing, and his comments will be parsed carefully for clues as to the central bank’s intentions.

With influential investment bank Goldman Sachs predicting that the Fed will raise interest rates far before its Euroxone counterparts, Goldman Sachs sees the U.S. central banking raising rates for four more times in this year. However, the Eurozone’s 5.0% inflation rate last week was a record, which puts more pressure on the European Central Bank for tightening its monetary policies.

This all takes place against the backdrop of rapid spreading of Omicron-Covid-19 virus during the holiday season, and healthcare systems stretched to their limits in many European countries.

The banking sector will be the focus of corporate news this week. There are several big U.S. banks reporting fourth quarter results, including JPMorgan Chase, (NYSE:). Citigroup (NYSE: Wells Fargo (NYSE:) The earnings season begins Friday.

After the week’s sharp gains, oil prices stabilised Monday. Operator Chevron stated Sunday that Kazakhstan’s biggest oil company, Tengizchevroil is slowly returning to normal production after protests reduced its output.

Libya’s oil production is also recovering after a major crude pipeline was fixed, the country’s energy minister said Monday.

The global spotlight has been on supply issues in countries like Kazakhstan and Libya, which outweighs concerns about whether the Omicron coronavirus variant could harm demand.

Futures were trading 0.2% higher at $79.08 per barrel by 2 AM ET while contracts rose 0.2% to $81.95. In the first week, both contracts saw gains of approximately 5%.

Also, the price of gold fell 0.3% at $1,791.85/oz while it traded 0.2% lower to 1.1333.