US speaker of the house Kevin McCarthy speaks to reporters as he stands with Congressional Republicans from both the US House and Senate during an event addressing debt ceiling negotiations with president Joe Biden outside the US Capitol in Washington. The FTSE was up on Monday. Photo: Nathan Howard/Reuters

European stocks and the FTSE 100 opened cautiously mixed on Monday as investors continue to worry about the US defaulting on its debt amid ongoing talks.

The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) gained 0.15% to open at 7,768.32 points, while the CAC 40 (^FCHI) in Paris lost 0.16% to 7,479.70 points. In Germany, the DAX (^GDAXI) fell 0.15% to 16,252.26 points.

Meanwhile, earnings are set to come from Ryanair (RYA.IR) and traders are watching NatWest (NWG.L) shares after a £1.26bn ($1.57bn) disposal reduced the government’s stake to below 40%.

US and Asia markets

In the US, Wall Street closed in the red on Friday as traders waited for a deal to be struck to avert the debt default.

The Dow Jones (^DJI) fell 0.33% to 33,426.63 points, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) dropped 0.14% to 4,191.98 points. The tech-heavy NASDAQ (^IXIC) declined by 0.24% to 12,657.90.

Read more: UK house prices jump to record high of £373,000 in May

In Asia, markets rose. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 (^N225) rose 0.90% to 31,086.82 points, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) in Hong Kong gained 1.54% to 19,750.18. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was also in the green, up 0.36% to 3,294.92 points.

Pound

The pound (GBPUSD=X) declined against the US dollar by 0.09% to 1.24. Against the euro, sterling (GBPEUR=X) was also down, by 0.09% to 1.15.

Oil markets

In commodities, US crude oil, or West Texas Intermediate (CL=F), fell 1.22% to $70.68 per barrel, while Brent crude (BZ=F) dropped 0.78% to $74.99 per barrel.

Watch: Biden, McCarthy to meet Monday on US debt ceiling

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.