Market Buzz: Starting summer lower

Russian stocks start the week lower, on a moderately negative international outlook. Investors will be looking at the US for drivers in the second half of the day, anticipating the release of manufacturing activity, a leading indicator of economic health.

On Friday the Russian stock exchange ended the session lower with the MICEX having lost 0.81 percent to close at 1350.17, while the RTS slipped 1.41 percent to 1331.43.

Europe also ended last week with a decline of major indicators. The UK’s FTSE100 dropped 1.11 percent to 6583.09, the DAX in Germany slid 0.61 percent to 8348.32, while in France the CAC 40 retreated 1.19 percent to end at 3948.59.

On Monday Spain, Italy and the UK will publish data on manufacturing activity, while Switzerland is to publish its SVME PMI.

The US floors ended Friday sharply lower despite expectations of an upward movement. Investors’ sell-offs were related to due to mixed economic reports. The Dow Jones industrial average slid more than 200 points, while some 100 were lost in the last 15 minutes alone, marking the worst drop in six weeks.

The Dow closed down 1.4 percent at 15,115.57. The S&P 500 ended 1.4 percent lower at 1,630.74. The NASDAQ Composite declined 1 percent to close at 3,455.91.

The Institute of Supply Management will release a closely-watched report on manufacturing activity in the US Friday.

Asia was mixed on Monday after contradictory data from China. Over the weekend, China’s National Bureau of Statistics said the country’s official PMI for May rose to 50.8 from 50.6 in April. That topped the 50.1 reading economists expected. In this light Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.36 percent in Monday’s trade, while the Shanghai Composite also advanced 0.10 percent.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 traded significantly lower, losing 2.17percent after the International Monetary Fund warned Japan that the yen is weak enough, as opposed to its earlier comments saying the Japanese yen was overvalued.

Statement from the European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi who predicted a "very gradual recovery" to start in the eurozone later this year also contributed to the confusion.

Oil is currently trading slightly lower with Brent losing a mere 0.05 percent and trading at $100, while WTI is 0.1 percent down trading at $92.