For the record, the S&P 500 fell 0.43% on Friday to 6,939 points, the Dow Jones dropped 0.36% to 48,892.4 points, while the Nasdaq 100 posted the largest decline among the three indices, down 1.28% at 25,552.3 points.

Donald Trump's announcement of Kevin Warsh's appointment as head of the Fed was poorly received: seen as a rather "hawkish" figure, Warsh is known for his support of reducing the Fed's role in the economy and for overhauling its monetary strategy.

Monetary policy will remain at the center of attention this week, with meetings of the ECB's Governing Council and the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, both set to release their decisions this Thursday.

Expecting the ECB to keep rates unchanged, Bank of America believes that "the updated assessment should reconfirm that inflation in the eurozone is expected to stabilize at the 2% target over the medium term."

"This would pave the way for no rate changes and only a minor adjustment to communication," the American bank assesses, also forecasting a status quo from the Bank of England with a 7-to-2 vote.

Ahead of these meetings, the first morning of the month was marked by the release of manufacturing PMI indices. At 49.5, the eurozone's index increased while remaining in contraction territory for the third consecutive month in January.

Nationally, Greece, France, and the Netherlands posted growth, but the rebounds in these three countries were largely offset by contractions seen in Germany, Italy, Spain, and Austria.

In the United Kingdom, the manufacturing sector recorded its strongest growth since September 2024, with the PMI index reaching 51.8 last month compared to 50.6 in December, surpassing the "flash" estimate of 51.6.

Later in the afternoon, traders are awaiting the release of both PMI and ISM indices for the manufacturing sector.

In Paris, Eramet (-7%) stands out as the biggest loser in the SBF 120, following the immediate dismissal of its CEO, Paulo Castellari, less than a year after his appointment at the helm of the mining and metallurgical group.

Elsewhere in Europe, Pandora (+7%) is clearly favored by the market, benefiting from the drop in precious metals prices, with both gold and silver declining, thus improving the Danish jeweler's cost and margin outlook.

Outside of equity markets, the euro is slightly up against the dollar, by about 0.2% to around 1.187 dollars, but is easing slightly against the pound sterling, down 0.1% to around 0.865 pounds.

Meanwhile, gold is down about 0.6% at 4,713 dollars, falling well below the symbolic 5,000-dollar threshold crossed a few days ago.

Finally, in commodities, oil prices are sharply lower, with Brent crude down nearly 1.7% to around 66.2 dollars a barrel.