European Shares Seen Up As Bank Concerns Ease

(RTTNews) - European stocks are likely to open higher on Monday as banking concerns ease.

Deutsche Bank remains profitable and there's no reason to doubt its future, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday during a news conference in Brussels.

Elsewhere, the U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council said the U.S. banking system was "sound and resilient" despite stress on some institutions.

St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said on Friday that the stress in the banking sector will abate, and the Fed needs to push interest rates higher than previously expected.

Asian stocks traded mixed, with Chinese and Hong Kong markets declining after Sinopec posted a drop in net profit for 2022 and government data showed profits at industrial firms in China declined 22.9 percent in the first two months of 2023 from the year before.

International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva told the China Development Forum on Sunday that risks to financial stability have increased and the outlook for the global economy is likely to remain weak over the medium term.

U.S. bond yields and the dollar index held steady, pushing gold prices lower. Oil prices were a tad higher after comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend ratcheted up geopolitical tensions in Europe.

The U.S. economic calendar for this week remains light, with traders likely to keep an eye on reports on consumer confidence, pending home sales and personal income and spending.

U.S. stocks closed Friday's session higher after a volatile trading session. Investors shrugged off data showing that durable goods orders unexpectedly fell by 1 percent in February from the month before.

The Dow edged up 0.4 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3 percent and the S&P 500 added 0.6 percent.

European stocks fell sharply on Friday after Deutsche Bank's credit default swaps jumped and reports indicated that Credit Suisse Group and UBS Group are under scrutiny in a U.S. probe for potentially helping Russian oligarchs evade sanctions.

The pan European STOXX 600 gave up 1.4 percent. The German DAX and France's CAC 40 both fell around 1.7 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 lost 1.3 percent.