Reuters

European shares fell on Monday as investors remained cautious ahead of an expected Fed rate hike, while earnings and M&A took center stage with software company Micro Focus sinking and a bid for Hammerson boosting commercial real estate stocks.

Asian share markets traded mixed on Monday as caution gripped investors in a week in which the Federal Reserve is likely to hike U.S. interest rates and perhaps signal that as many as three more lie in store for the rest of the year.

China elevated a key confidante of President Xi Jinping to one of the top positions in government on Monday as Beijing cracks down on riskier financing and a debt to reduce systemic risks to the world’s second-largest economy.

U.S. homebuilding fell more than expected in February as a plunge in the construction of multi-family housing units offset a second straight monthly increase in single-family projects.

Asian stocks slid on Friday as reports of more chaos in the Trump administration tested investors’ nerves, already frayed by fears that U.S. tariffs could hurt the global economy and trigger a trade war.

The Canadian dollar fell against the greenback on Thursday to its lowest level in more than eight months as traders reassessed how many more times the Bank of Canada was likely to raise interest Rates this year.

Germany said on Thursday that any escalation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on metal imports into a full-blown trade war could cause tangible damage to the global recovery, although the tariffs themselves should have only a limited effect.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell last week, pointing to sustained labor strength even as economic growth appears to have slowed early in the first quarter.

Oil prices inched up on Thursday after earlier losses, supported by a pickup in equity markets, but limited by evidence that supply will overtake demand this year.

A break in the recent global trade war squalls helped lift European stocks on Thursday and cooled demand for the markets’ traditional safety plays of government bonds and gold.