European Shares Poised For Cautious Open

(RTTNews) - European stocks are seen opening on a sluggish note Monday, with Middle East concerns and rate hike worries likely to keep investors on edge.

Pushing against U.S. rate-hike bets, U.S. President Donald Trump said that there is too much emphasis on inflation and that increasing the benchmark interest rate would be "the wrong thing to do".

His remarks come as Fed Chair Kevin Warsh prepares to lead his first Federal Open Market Committee meeting on June 16-17.

U.S. stock index futures were mixed ahead of the launch of Apple's more personalized Siri digital assistant later today and Oracle earnings due late Wednesday.

Asian markets were deep in the red, with technology stocks bearing the brunt of the selling on rising bond yields.

The U.S. dollar jumped to a two-month high and the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose to 4.57 percent amid signs the U.S. Federal Reserve may not cut borrowing costs anytime soon and that it might instead raise rates later this year against a backdrop of high inflation.

Crude prices surged more than 4 percent toward $97 a barrel after Israel struck Hezbollah targets in Beirut's southern suburbs over the weekend and Iran retaliated by launching a volley of missile strikes against Israel.

Israel struck Iranian military targets early today in a tit-for-tat retaliation, despite U.S. President Trump urging restraint.