Before the bell: Europe dips from highs as earnings season nears finish line

The week will bring more earnings from U.S. technology companies, with AI demand trends remaining centre stage ahead of results from Applied Materials AMAT.O, Cisco CSCO.O and CoreWeave CRWV.O in the coming days, as well as Nvidia NVDA.O on Aug. 26.

The reporting season is winding down after exceptionally strong results.

According to the latest LSEG I/B/E/S estimates, second-quarter earnings per share for S&P 500 companies are expected to have risen 51.1%, marking the strongest growth since the post-pandemic recovery in 2021. Earnings growth for Europe's STOXX 600 is running near 21%.

On Friday, the pan-European index .STOXX closed at record highs.

European futures pointed to a muted start on Monday as continued uncertainty over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz keeps Brent crude near $84 a barrel and investors await U.S. inflation data for further clues on the Federal Reserve's policy path.

Contracts on the Euro STOXX 50 .STOXX50E, DAX .GDAXI and FTSE .FTSE were trading down 0.1-0.4%, while S&P 500 .SPX futures edged higher after Wall Street's record close on Friday, when softer-than-expected jobs data eased concerns about further tightening.