European shares edged slightly lower Monday, on the heels of a six-week gain, with shares of Aberdeen Asset Management soaring after an acquisition.

-  Stoxx      600   lost 0.06 percent or 0.19 points to  322.86

The benchmark gauge rose for six straight weeks as signs emerged the Federal Reserve won’t rush to reduce the pace of its stimulus, outweighing data that showed the euro-area economic recovery is faltering.

The Benchmark ended with a 0.1 percent gain last week.

-  Stoxx 50   dropped 0.15% to  3049.81 . As of 03:43 a.m. EST.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching fresh record highs, as investors digested downbeat reports on industrial production and manufacturing in the New York region as well as overtly dovish comments from the Fed`s chairperson nominee Janet Yellen at the confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday. The Dow rose half a percent, the tech-heavy NASDAQ edged up 0.3 percent and the S&P 500 added 0.4 percent.

Italy is back in focus after former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi relaunched his old party Forza Italia following a split from Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta`s ruling coalition. Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, meanwhile, said that all five centre-right ministers would remain in government and that the stability of the ruling coalition was not at risk.

China Reform

Supporting markets was cautious optimism about reforms in China after the Communist Party unveiled surprisingly bold reforms late last week.

It pledged to let the market play a "decisive" role in the economy and outlined changes designed to unleash new sources of growth.

Local governments will be able to sell bonds to fund construction and officials will be rated on measures including borrowing levels, the party said Nov. 15. 

Chinese reform plan will ease its one-child policy and open its market to private and foreign investors in order to boost the nation’s economy performance, where China’s expansion began to lose its steam after three decades.

China`s benchmark index posted its biggest gain in two months Friday, while the Shanghai Composite climbed 2.73 per cent.

Corporate News

In corporate news, Telefonica Deutschland said it has successfully placed senior unsecured notes with a total principal volume of 600 million euros due on November 22, 2018.

Switzerland-based Basilea Pharmaceutica said that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted orphan drug designation to isavuconazole for the treatment of zygomycosis, a life-threatening fungal infection.

Swiss hearing aid maker Sonova Holding AG raised its full-year guidance Monday as it reported a 10.6% surge in first-half profit and rising sales.

Lloyds, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender agreed to sell its Scottish Widows Investment division to Aberdeen for 560 million pounds ($903 million). 

Shares of Lloyds rose 1%. Aberdeen gained 11 percent.

-The British  FTSE 100   lost 0.07% or 4.44 points to  6689.00

-The French  CAC 40   lost 0.12% or 5.00 to  4287.25

-Frankfurt’s  DAX 30   lost 0.11% or 10.33 points to  9158.65