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KEEPING SCORE: In early trading, Germany's DAX index was up 0.2 percent at 10,113.34 and France's CAC-40 was off 0.5 percent at 4,675.89. Wall Street looked set to give up some of Friday's gains, with futures for the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 off 0.1 percent. On Friday, the Dow added 0.2 percent, the S&P was up 0.1 percent and the Nasdaq composite advanced 0.4 percent.
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ASIA'S DAY: The Shanghai Composite Index rose 3.3 percent to 3,287.66 points and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.2 percent to 22,730.93. Seoul's Kospi advanced 0.1 percent to 2,021.63 and Singapore, Jakarta and Taiwan also rose. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday. Sydney's S&P ASX 200 shed 0.8 percent to 5,232.90 and India's Sensex retreated 0.8 percent to 26,871.20. Bangkok also declined.
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WALL STREET: The U.S. stock market turned in its best week of the year, helped by airlines and industrial companies. The S&P 500 ended the week up 3.3 percent, its best week since mid-December. Most of the gains came after the release of last week's disappointing jobs report, which suggested the Federal Reserve would postpone a long-anticipated interest rate rise for several months. That signal was reinforced Thursday, when the minutes from the September Fed meeting showed policymakers are too concerned about low inflation and the slowdown in China to raise interest rates.
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CHINA TRADE: Forecasters expect data Tuesday to show China's September imports contracted by as much as 15 percent from a year earlier in a new sign of weakness in the world's second-largest economy. Exports are expected to have declined as well due to weak global demand. The slowdown has sent shockwaves through economies that supply raw materials and components to China's vast manufacturing industry. The trade data "will be a key" for investor sentiment toward commodities and mining stocks, according to Ric Spooner of CMC Markets.
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ANALYST'S TAKE: "In Asia, indicators for China's economy will be the key focal point this week," said Bernard Aw of IG Markets in a report. "The current account balance of China may stay under pressure for some time." Despite expectations Beijing wants to hold its yuan steady in hopes of having it adopted by the International Monetary Fund as part of the basket used to set the value of its in-house currency, "growth concerns and financial reforms are expected to weigh on the local currency," said Aw. He said Beijing might spend more of its foreign currency reserves to hold the yuan steady, "which may add to market volatility."
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ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude added 30 cents to $49.93 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, the contract gained 20 cents to close at $49.63. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 34 cents to $53.25 in London. In the previous session, it shed 37 cents to $52.91 per barrel.
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Global stocks mixed, Wall Street rises amid trade optimism
