The US central bank's rate decision and any signs of an end to its monetary tightening campaign top the agenda for investors next week, with focus also on a financial, aviation and telecoms sector earnings.
The Federal Reserve holds a one-day meeting on interest rates on Tuesday and its policy statement is expected at around 1815 GMT.
"It is not clear what the Fed is going to do," said Luca Paolini, an asset allocation strategist at Germany's Union Investment, which has over 90 billion euros ($115 billion) worth of assets under management.
"Investors are asking: are we going to see a slowdown in the US economy?" he said, adding that the US jobs numbers due for release later on Friday could be key for the Fed, which has said it is highly data-dependent.
"With policy rates now back into their `neutral' range, and the impact of previous tightening still in the pipeline, further hikes are perceived as damaging for activity growth," Goldman Sachs said in a Global Markets research note.
"The outcome of the August 8 meeting is a close call, but we would on balance expect a further hike to 5.50 percent in order to dampen inflation risks," Goldman Sachs said.
European equity strategists said the flood of generally healthy corporate results posted for the quarter to end-June had provided few new signals for stock investors.
"The earnings season so far has not delivered any clear impulses. This is likely to continue," said Christian Schmidt, a strategist at Helaba Trust.
At midday on Friday, Europe's benchmark FTSEurofirst index of top-300 shares looked set to end the week with a loss of just over half a percent for a year-to-date gain of around 5 percent, double that of the US S&P 500 index.
"Most stock markets seem to be well supported, even though robust corporate news has failed to impact share prices amid a strong increase in volatility," Commerzbank said in a note.
The coming week's European calendar focuses on financials, airline and airport operators as well as telecoms and utilities.
"Our half-time results scorecard shows a moderation in earnings momentum compared to prior quarters," Lehman Brothers said in a note on European banks.
A Goldman Sachs survey of chief executives concurred.
"Bankers' comments do not paint a gloomy picture about current conditions, but they do suggest that things are likely to turn down from here," Goldman Sachs said.
Britain's Standard & Chartered's first-half results are due on Tuesday followed on Wednesday by German Commerzbank and on Thursday by Belgian-Dutch Fortis Bank and Aegon, Danish Danske Bank, Sweden's Swedbank as well as Finnish insurer Sampo and British insurer Royal & Sun Alliance.
UK investment bank Schroders and Italy's Banca Popolare di Intra report on Friday.
July traffic figures are due on Monday from Scandinavian airline SAS and UK-based budget carrier EasyJet, with data from Germany's Lufthansa and Finland's Finnair on Wednesday and Spanish Iberia on Thursday.
British Airways on Friday reported higher profits but warned of a tougher second half of the year. SAS's second-quarter results are due on August 9.
Investors exposed to aviation will also scrutinise July traffic numbers from listed airport operators in Britain on Tuesday, Switzerland on Thursday as well as Germany and Austria on Friday.
TELECOMS & UTILITIES:
Elsewhere, Swisscom is due to report first-half results on Wednesday and sector heavyweight Deutsche Telekom's earnings are due on Thursday.
In utilities, Germany's RWE reports on Thursday and French Gaz de France on Friday.
US corporate earnings that might affect sector peers in Europe include tech giant Cisco on Tuesday as well as media groups Viacom and Walt Disney on Wednesday.
On the macro-economic front, inflation will remain in the spotlight in the wake of this week's European Central Bank (ECB) comments interpreted by analysts as suggesting another interest rate rise in October.
Professional forecasters' inflation views, part of a survey in the ECB's monthly bulletin due on Thursday, will be watched closely by economists, aware that the ECB's policymakers pay attention to that data.
"European CEOs are becoming more cautious on the environment in general and on potential inflationary pressures," said the Goldman Sachs survey of chief executives.
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