- Ronaldo scores 133rd Portugal goal in Nations League win over Poland
- 40 nations contributing to UN Lebanon peacekeeping force condemn 'attacks'
- Eight dead as heavy rain thrashes Brazil after long drought
- Jewish school in Canada hit by gunfire for second time
- Morocco crush Central African Republic, Guirassy scores hat-trick
- Dupont scores quickfire hat-trick on Toulouse Top 14 return
- Ronaldo scores in Portugal's Nations League win as Spain sink Denmark
- Interim boss Carsley has not applied for England job
- Mets hurler Senga ready to take on Dodgers in game one of NL Championship Series
- Ronaldo on target again as Portugal defeat Poland in Nations League
- Guardians rip Tigers 7-3 to advance in MLB playoffs
- AFP, BBC win top French war reporting awards
- Carsley goes back to basics as humbled England face Finland
- Alex Salmond: the man who took Scotland to the brink of independence
- Scotland's former leader Alex Salmond dies aged 69: party
- UN warns of catastrophe as Israel fights a two-front war
- Croatia extend Scotland's losing streak
- South Africa, New Zealand boost T20 World Cup semi-final hopes
- 'Very challenging': Israel faces Hezbollah in tricky terrain
- Farrell begins to feel at home as Racing 92 beat Toulon
- South Africa boost T20 World Cup semi-final hopes with Bangladesh win
- Samson ton powers India to T20 series sweep after record total
- Djokovic to face Sinner in Shanghai final with 100th title in sight
- UN peacekeepers to remain in Lebanon: spokesman
- Pro-Conquest film fuels debate in Mexico over colonial legacy
- Samson ton powers India to record 297-6 in Bangladesh T20
- New Zealand enjoy perfect start to America's Cup defence over Britain
- Pogacar emulates icon Coppi with fourth straight Il Lombardia triumph
- UN warns against 'catastrophic' regional conflict
- New Zealand crush Ineos Britannia in America's Cup opener
- Djokovic to face Sinner in blockbuster Shanghai Masters final
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- Sri Lanka seeks to match success in W.Indies T20s
- Sinner reaches Shanghai final, will end year number one
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Sabalenka downs Gauff in three sets to reach Wuhan final
- Israel warns south Lebanon residents to 'not return'
- Sinner tames Machac to reach Shanghai Masters final
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- Hezbollah fires at Israel as wars rage on Yom Kippur
- Analysts warn more detail needed on new China economic measures
- China tees up fresh spending to boost ailing economy
- China says will issue special bonds to boost ailing economy
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Dodgers drop Padres 2-0 to advance in MLB playoffs
- Alexei Navalny wrote he knew he would die in prison in new memoir
- Last-minute legal ruling allows betting on US election
- Despite hurricanes, Floridians refuse to leave 'paradise'
Stocks steady while oil prices back off three-month highs
European and US stocks were mostly flat Monday at the start of a week packed with major earnings and data in addition to central bank decisions on interest rates.
Oil prices, meanwhile, fell after reaching three-month highs on concerns over a possible wider conflict in the Middle East after a drone attack on a base in Jordan killed three American troops.
"Strikingly, oil prices, which shot up initially on the report, have rolled over," said market analyst Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com.
"The price action there -- and in the equity futures market in general -- suggests traders aren't convinced the drone strike, and impending response, will lead to a more involved military action and major disruption of oil supplies out of the Middle East," he added.
President Joe Biden blamed Iran-backed militants for the first US military deaths in the region since the Israel-Hamas war began.
Iran said it had nothing to do with the attack and denied US and British accusations that it supported militant groups responsible for the strike on the remote frontier base in Jordan's northeast, near the borders with Iraq and Syria.
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said crude prices hitting their highest level since November felt "ominous given it adds inflationary pressure at a time when borrowers and the markets are hoping to see interest rates cut."
The week's key market event was expected to be Wednesday's interest rate policy decision by the Federal Reserve.
While the Fed meeting is expected to keep rates unchanged, traders hope to hear some guidance from officials on their plans, with a cut in March seen as a toss-up.
David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation, said there are hopes that the Fed statement and chairman Jerome Powell's subsequent press conference "may contain clues to the timing of the first rate cut for nearly four years."
The Bank of England will announce its latest interest rate call on Thursday.
Other notable events this week include earnings from tech and energy giants, including Apple and Shell, in addition to US jobs data.
With so much news on the calendar this week equity trading got off to a cautious start in Europe and the United States.
"There is a lot the market doesn't know right now about the events that will unfold in the very near-term," said O'Hare.
"Accordingly, it is keeping its eyes pinned to the sky, waiting to see if it will be rain or shine from the headlines," he added.
Elsewhere, the Shanghai stock market closed lower following news that a Hong Kong court had issued a winding-up order against Chinese developer Evergrande, stoking fresh worries about the property sector and economy.
Evergrande's Hong Kong-listed shares collapsed more than 20 percent on the news before they were suspended.
Still, Redmond Wong, chief China strategist at Saxo Markets, said "the winding-up of Evergrande's Hong Kong listing entity has been widely anticipated and should not impact the general market much".
Monday's decision came amid worries that a huge debt crisis in China's property sector could spill over into the wider economy.
The order kickstarts a long process that should see Evergrande's offshore assets liquidated and its management replaced, after the company failed to develop a working restructuring plan.
- Key figures around 1430 GMT -
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.8 percent at $82.88 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.9 percent at $77.33
New York - Dow: FLAT at 38,105.22 points
New York - S&P 500: FLAT at 4,892.36
New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP less than 0.1 percent at 15,468.66
London - FTSE 100: UP less than 0.1 percent at 7,640.99
Paris - CAC 40: FLAT at 7,634.49
Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.4 percent at 16,898.33
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 4,631.70
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.8 percent at 36,026.94 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.8 percent at 16,077.24 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.9 percent at 2,883.36 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0812 from $1.0858 on Friday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2684 from $1.2703
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 148.03 yen from 148.13 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.21 pence from 85.44 pence
burs-rl/lth
Y.Kobayashi--AMWN