European stocks are set to open modestly lower Monday as investors prepare for a hectic week of corporate earnings both here and in the United States with more than 120 reports expected over the next five days.

Britain's FTSE 100 is expected to dip by around 0.02% at the start of trading, according to financial bookmakers IG, with similar percentage declines expected for benchmarks in Germany and France.

Overnight in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 was able to grind out a 0.31% gain, despite a firmer yen holding down gains for export stocks, as banks and financial shares rose following President Donald Trump's plans to rollback the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The broader MSCI Asia ex-Japan rose around 0.53% with gains for South Korea's KOSPI Composite offsetting a modest loss for the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia, which fell 0.1%.

The U.S. dollar was little-changed, however, as traders and investors digested last week's January employment report, which indicated stronger-than-expected jobs growth for the first month of the year but disappointed some analysts with only a modest increase in wages and a higher headline unemployment rate.

The mixed picture has, for the moment at least, clouded the debate over the pace of rate increases from the U.S. Federal Reserve and correspondingly put downward pressure on the greenback, which traded at 99.69 against a basket of six global currencies as European markets began to take over at 06:45 GMT.

Global oil prices also crept higher overnight, although gains were limited by the anticipation of increased U.S. production, as traders reacted to renewed sanctions put in place by the Trump administration in retaliation for Iran's recent testing of a Sumar ballistic missile. WTI futures for March delivery rose 0.37% from Friday's close to $54.03 per barrel while Brent contracts for the same month, the global benchmark, advanced 0.35% to $57.01.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Friday above the 20,000 level for the first time in a week as financials rallied on the promise of relaxed regulations. The Nasdaq scored a new record close.

The Dow rose 0.94% to finish at 20,071. The S&P 500 was up 0.73%, ending the day just 1 point shy of its previous record high of 2,298 set on Jan. 25. The Nasdaq posted a new record close, gaining 0.54% to finish at 5,666.

U.S futures prices, much like those in Europe, suggest a marginal decline at the open of trading on Wall Street Monday, with the Dow falling around 2 points, the Nasdaq 3.5 points and the S&P 500 1 point.