European Shares Seen Tad Higher At Open

(RTTNews) - European stocks are seen opening a tad higher on Monday amid bets that the U.S. Federal Reserve may hold interest rates steady later this month.

Amid lingering concerns about elevated Treasury yields, investors now await the release of ISM Services PMI later in the day and the minutes of the September FOMC meeting on Wednesday for additional clues on the Fed's rate trajectory.

U.S. stock futures were mixed, with Nasdaq futures drifting lower as focus shifted to the start of the third-quarter earnings season.

Asian stocks were broadly higher, with markets in mainland China and South Korea closed for holidays. Japan's Nikkei index jumped more than 2 percent, led by gains in technology stocks.

The Japanese yen was little changed ahead of a series of economic reports due this week. Japan no longer needs expansionary fiscal and monetary policies aimed at boosting demand, former Bank of Japan board member Asahi Noguchi said in an interview on Friday, reinforcing expectations that the central bank could raise interest rates again as early as December.

The U.S. dollar was on a firm footing in Asian trade and bond yields steadied while gold dipped toward $4,100 an ounce.

Brent crude futures fell toward $101 a barrel after gaining almost 5 percent last week.

Amid rising risks to global supplies, major OPEC+ members agreed over the weekend to leave production quotas unchanged next month.

Yemen's government forces said Sunday they had struck Houthi targets in the capital Sanaa and Taiz in the southwest, deepening the conflict ravaging one of the world's poorest nations and the wider region.

U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday as data showing much weaker-than-expected job growth in September reduced expectations for a potential Federal Reserve rate hike later this month.

Data showed non-farm payroll employment rose by 29,000 jobs in September after an increase of a downwardly revised 133,000 jobs in August, while economists had expected employment to increase by 85,000 jobs.

Wage pressures were lower than expected. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2 percent from 4.1 percent in August while economists had expected it to remain unchanged. Separate data showed factory orders rose less than expected in August.

Bond yields moved higher as hawkish comments from Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan calling for an increase in short-term borrowing costs by at least another 50 basis points offset softer jobs data.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 1.2 percent to a new record high, the S&P 500 advanced 0.7 percent and the narrower Dow gained half a percent.

European stocks rebounded on Friday after hitting multi-month lows in the previous session.

The pan-European STOXX 600 climbed 0.8 percent after the release of softer U.S. jobs data and an announcement by the G7 group of nations that they would undertake a coordinated release of 100 million barrels of diesel and other reserves through the International Energy Agency.

The German DAX rallied 1.2 percent, France's CAC 40 rose 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 0.3 percent.