By Anisha Sircar

(Reuters) – European stocks paused Monday following a record-breaking run. Investors remained cautious ahead of U.S. Inflation data. A string of poor earnings offset the effect of an increase in oil stocks.

After hitting intra-day records on Friday, the pan-European fell 0.04%.

The Asian markets closed slightly higher despite the gloomy mood on the expectations of another record reading for U.S. consumer price, due to tightening labour markets and disruptions in global supply chains. [MKTS/GLOB]

Equiti Capital’s markets analyst David Madden stated, “After the hectic session last week the clock has gone back, as we look at months and months prior to monetary policy being changed, if any,”

It is the best of both: The U.S., UK and eurozone economies are recovering at a decent pace, and we don’t anticipate any major changes from either the ECB, Bank of England or Fed for some while.

European stocks hit new highs each day last week, following positive U.S. employment data and an update from the U.S. pharmaceutical maker Pfizer (NYSE: ) Covid-19 and strong earnings seasons so far.

However, the major regional indicators, including the 40 and UK, drifted slightly in the red Monday, despite Philip Lane, chief economist at the ECB, stating that inflation will ease next year but remain low in the short term.

The top European gainers were oil stocks, which rose 1.5% after crude prices stabilized following the passage of the U.S. infrastructure bill. Also, Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned company (SE:), raised its crude sell price. [O/R]

Richemont gained 2.5% following news that Third Point, an activist hedge fund (NYSE:), had purchased a stake of the luxury goods company.

Consumer goods company Henkel was the biggest loser, dropping 5.6% following a trimming of its full-year outlook and stating it couldn’t fully compensate for an increase in input prices.

French conglomerate Bouygues The (PA:) fell 4.8% after its purchase by Engie of Equans technical services group for 7.1 million euros.

Playtech UK (LON: ) saw 2.3% growth after it was acquired by Gopher Investments.

Tesla (NASDAQ) shares listed in Frankfurt fell 6.3% on Twitter (NYSE) after users said yes to Elon Musk’s offer to sell 10% stock.