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Euro zone, U.S. inflation data in focus this week

Feb 26 Reuters European shares fell on Monday, led by a decline in commoditylinked stocks, while investors awaited key inflation data expected this week from the euro zone and the United States.

The panEuropean STOXX 600 was down 0.4 by 940 GMT, on track for the biggest one day drop in nearly two weeks. The broader European market closed at an alltime high on Friday and marked its fifth straight week of gains.

The basic resources subindex led losses on Monday with a 1.6 drop, while oil and gas stocks fell 0.9 as prices of most metals and crude oil slipped after the dollar rose on market views that higherthanexpected inflation could delay cuts to interest rates.

In a datapacked week, focus will be on euro zone consumer confidence data, business activity data and figures on the region39;s consumer prices for the month of February.

Headline CPI for the European Union, expected on March 1, is seen slowing to 2.5 from 2.8, with the core at 2.9 versus 3.3.

As for euro zone inflation, lower energy prices should lead to downward revisions to headline inflation in the near term, but core inflation should remain broadly unchanged throughout the forecast horizon, HSBC analysts said.

A slowdown in euro zone inflation could prompt the European Central…