Before the bell: European futures weaker even as oil prices fall

The fall in crude prices came after last week's surge following a U.S. announcement of more economic sanctions on Iran, suggesting the conflict could prove more protracted, while the collapse of U.S.-Canada trade talks added to market uncertainty. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will outline the Iran sanctions at a press conference on Monday.

Premarket indications pointed to weakness across European technology stocks, with shares in ASML ASML.AS down about 1% on Tradegate, alongside declines in other chipmakers.

In corporate news, the Financial Times reported that Shell SHEL.L has attracted interest from potential bidders, including Exxon Mobil XOM.N, for its U.S. chemical assets, which could fetch up to $8 billion.

European futures pointed to a weaker start to the week on Monday as the AI trade faced a key test from Nvidia's NVDA.O earnings on Wednesday, while investors also looked to Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's comments at Jackson Hole on Friday for clues on the outlook for interest rates.

Contracts on the EuroSTOXX50 .STOXX50E, DAX .GDAXI and FTSE .FTSE indexes traded between a 0.2% fall and a 0.1% rise, following declines in tech-heavy Asian markets. Oil prices eased, helping curb the advance in long-dated U.S. bond yields after the Treasury announced plans to increase debt buybacks.