Stocks: Europe and earnings in focus

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Monday's trading day will likely be driven by Europe and corporate earnings, and so far, investors remain cautious.

Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (COMP) futures were mixed ahead of the opening bell Monday. Stock futures indicate the possible direction of the markets when they open at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Aluminum producer and Dow component Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500) will unofficially kick off the quarterly reports season after the closing bell. Analysts expect a modest sales increase and a big profit drop.

Overall, earnings for companies in the S&P 500 are expected to be up 7.5% in the final three months of 2011, versus the same period in 2010.

"I have no reason to think the earnings reports will not be generally very strong," said Tim Speiss, partner in charge of the Personal Wealth Advisors Group at EisnerAmper.

Investors will also be closely watching for any developments out of a meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The two leaders are discussing their strategy for rescuing the euro and preparing for a European summit at the end of the month.

Europe's debt crisis: 'No clear end in sight'

Early Monday, a €3.9 million auction of six-month German bills drew strong demand, pushing the yield to a negative 0.0122%. German bonds are considered a safe haven, so the strong demand reflects the ongoing investor worry surrounding Europe's debt crisis.

In another sign of nervousness, eurozone banks parked an all-time high of €463.5 billion in the European Central Bank's overnight deposit facility Friday.

U.S. stocks ended mostly lower Friday, as worries about Europe's debt crisis dampened enthusiasm over a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report.

World markets: European stocks were mixed in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 (UKX) shed 0.2%, France's CAC 40 (CAC40) gained 0.2%, and the DAX (DAX) in Germany lost 0.2%.

Asian markets ended higher. The Shanghai Composite (SHCOMP) gained 2.9% and the Hang Seng (HSI) in Hong Kong added 1.5%. Tokyo's exchange was closed Monday for a national holiday.

Economy: The Federal Reserve will release data on consumer credit for the month of November Monday afternoon. Analysts surveyed by Briefing.com expect consumer credit to have increased by $7 billion, after increasing by $7.6 billion in October.

Companies: Novartis (NVS) shares slipped in premarket trading, after the Swiss pharmaceutical company recalled bottles of over-the-counter drugs, including Excedrin and Bufferin because of complaints about mislabeled and broken pills.

Netflix (NFLX) shares rose nearly 3% in premarket trading, after CEO Reed Hastings told Reuters that the company began gaining back U.S. subscribers in the fourth quarter of last year. That said, he still doesn't expect the company to turn a profit in 2012.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar fell against the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen.

Oil for February delivery slipped 5 cents to $101.51 a barrel.

Gold futures for February delivery added $1.20 to $1,618 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, pushing the yield up to 1.97% from 1.96% late Friday.