Economic calendar: Coronavirus overshadows politics

• Coronavirus infections surge across Europe and the United States

• Tropical storm Zeta approaches US Gulf Coast

• Big tech names to report earnings in the later part of the week

A fresh wave of pessimism arrived on the global markets on Monday as spiking Covid-19 cases hint that pandemic is getting out of control. Numerous European countries reported record daily cases over the weekend, including Italy - European hotspot during the first wave of pandemic. Cases are also picking up in the United States with 5 members of Vice President Pence team testing positive over the weekend. US stimulus deal negotiations continue to show lack of progress. Last but not least, tropical storm Zeta is approaching the US Gulf coast and is expected to strengthen to hurricane category later today. All of these combined makes markets jittery, just 8 days ahead of the US presidential elections.

Economic calendar is light today with German surveys and US housing data being the only noteworthy releases. As it is usually the case on Mondays, traders will not find big names in today's earnings calendar. However, companies like Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook and Apple will report in the later part of the week.

9:00 am GMT - Germany, IFO index for October. Expected: 93. Previous: 93.4

2:00 pm GMT - US, new home sales for September. Expected: 1025k. Previous: 1011k