European stocks were expected to open sharply lower on Monday after shares ended higher for the day and week on Friday following a successful conclusion to the euro zone debt deal on Thursday and better than expected earnings news.
Financial spreadbetters expected Britain's FTSE 100 to open 40 to 45 points lower, or as much as 0.8 percent, Germany's DAX to open 41 to 49 points lower, or as much as 0.7 percent, and France's CAC-40to open 23 to 29 points lower, or as much as 0.8 percent.
In the US, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and the Democratic-controlled Senate seem to remain apart in their negotiations to raise the debt ceilingand avoid a default.
House speaker John Boehner told Republicans he was mulling a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution as part of the debt bill.
In Europe, Spain will be in focus this week as the Spanish government tries to get tough on the country's powerful regions to ensure it meets stringent budget-deficit targets.
Finance minister Elena Salgado is due to meet with regional finance ministers on Wednesday to agree new spending limits and she has warned there will be penalties for the regions that fail to meet their targets.
Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos will deliver a speech in Washington on the challenges and opportunities arising from the Greek debt crisis and he is due to meet IMF and officials to discuss the situation in his country following confirmation of a 109 billion euro ($156 billion) aid package for Greece.
In corporate news, Deutsche Bank will hold a supervisory board meeting on Monday ahead of second quarter results, with news on Josef Ackermann's replacement heavily anticipated.
In London, the UK Office for National Statistics will publish a report on the overall happiness of Britain after Prime Minister David Cameron announced the plans to measure national wellbeing in November.
Gloomy news over the pace of the UK recovery might well affect the results which have been collected since April and cover health, education and the local environment.
Second quarter industrial survey results from France will be released at 7:45 London time and British Bankers' Association high street banking group statistics for the UK will be out at 8:30.