Fears about the impact of high oil prices will continue at forefront of the market's psyche this week and investors will scour Lufthansa and British Airways results to see just how bad that impact will be.
Surging oil prices have hit equities hard in the past weeks as investors assess the impact on corporate profits.
Investors will also scrutinise results from utilities for signals of how the sector is weathering oil prices now at more than $45 a barrel.
German utility RWE's second-quarter results, due out on Tuesday, are expected to show its natural gas operations have benefited from expensive oil, Deutsche Bank analysts said.
Germany's E.ON releases second-quarter results on Thursday, when first quarter results are also due from Scottish Power.
Seasonally light summer trade is expected to exacerbate share price volatility in the face of record high crude.
As the second quarter earnings season enters its final stretch, telecoms firms will also be a focus.
Deutsche Telekom releases second-quarter results on Thursday, KPN reports on its second quarter on Monday and Bouygues releases first-half sales on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, UBS, the world's largest wealth manager, releases second quarter results on Tuesday, with analysts expecting the numbers to have been hit by a seasonal slowdown.
A Reuters analysts poll forecast net income of 1.919 billion Swiss francs in the second quarter of 2004, down from 2.423 billion in the first quarter, but up on the second quarter of 2003, when net income was 1.537 billion francs.
Ferry and cruise ship operator P&O and defence electronics firm Thales also report results this week.
Analysts said on balance the earnings season had been positive, although a peak in improvements may have been reached.
"This earnings season has certainly been more good news than bad news, but the peak in earnings revisions came in May. Since then they have been losing momentum, although they are still positive," Credit Suisse First Boston strategist Robert Jukes said.
Markets will wait to see if the Fed decides the time is right on Tuesday for a second rate rise after its quarter percentage point hike at the end of June, the first increase in four years. Investors will be alert to the impact a US rate hike this week may have on consumers' appetite for spending, and to signs that inflationary pressures could dent the US recovery. But the effect of any rate rise will be muted, analysts said.
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