European stocks steady despite Asia losses

LONDON: Europe's major stock markets steadied Monday as investors set aside earlier losses in Asia, awaited the next earnings season and digested remarks from the head of the Federal Reserve.

London nudged lower in late morning deals, while Frankfurt and Paris flatlined shortly after midday in the eurozone.

Asian equities declined after Fed boss Jerome Powell reiterated his view that the economy was improving -- but warned that deadly coronavirus still posed a risk.

Bitcoin meanwhile climbed before Wednesday's stock market flotation of Coinbase, which is the largest US cryptocurrency exchange.

"European markets are kicking off a new week in somewhat subdued fashion, with the recent focus on vaccination efforts and relative levels of lockdown giving way to a week where earnings seen to take precedence," said analyst Joshua Mahony at trading firm IG.

"With US first-quarter earnings season underway this week, we finally see a measure of just how far companies have come since the onset of the crisis.

"The US banks take centre stage for this first week," he said, noting investors would closely follow news of any exposure to troubled hedge fund Archegos Capital Management.

JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs will post their first-quarter numbers on Wednesday, followed by Morgan Stanley on Friday.

Swiss lender Credit Suisse had already revealed last week that it would take a $4.7 billion hit from its links to Archegos.

Asian and European stocks meanwhile failed to gain traction on Monday from Wall Street's latest record-breaking performance on Friday.

Investors remain hopeful of more gains as Covid-19 vaccines are rolled out around the world and US President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus filters through to the economy -- with another big spending package in the works.

Investors were also taking on the latest comments from Powell, who said on CBS that the world's top economy was getting back into gear, but he remained cautious.

"The outlook has brightened substantially," he said. "And that's the base case. I would say again though, there really are risks out there.

"The principal risk to our economy right now really is that the disease would spread again. It's going to be smart if people could continue to socially distance and wear masks.

"What we're seeing now is really an economy that seems to be at an inflection point. And that's because of widespread vaccination and strong fiscal support, strong monetary policy support."

Powell and other Fed policymakers have stressed for weeks that the recovery will likely fan inflation but -- despite long-running market worries that the bank will be forced to lift interest rates -- monetary policy will be kept ultra-loose until the economy is well on the mend.

Elsewhere Monday, Bitcoin won 1.85 percent to reach $60,782 on a renewed wave of investor interest. That was not too far from the record $61,742 struck in mid-March.

Key figures around 1030 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3 percent at 6,894.91 points

Paris - CAC 40: FLAT at 6,174.39

Frankfurt - DAX 30: FLAT at 15,239.92

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,972.83

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.8 percent at 29,538.73 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.9 percent at 28,453.28 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 1.1 percent at 3,412.95 (close)

New York - Dow: UP 0.9 percent at 33,800.60 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1902 from $1.1899 at 2100 GMT

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3739 from $1.3707

Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.61 pence from 86.81 pence

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 109.32 yen from 109.67 yen

Brent North Sea crude: UP 1.2 percent at $63.69 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.0 percent at $59.92 per barrel