European equities inched lower following last week's strong rally in morning trade on Monday while the euro hovered near a one-month peak against the dollar as investors awaited the outcome of talks to provide a new tranche of emergency loans to Greece.

Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund will seek to unfreeze the second bailout package for Greece on Monday, but they first need to agree if some of the official loans to Athens might eventually be forgiven to cut Greek debt.

U.S. lawmakers have made little progress in the past 10 days toward a compromise to avoid the harsh tax increases and government spending cuts scheduled for January 1, a senior Democratic senator said on Sunday.

Knight Capital Group Inc (KCG.N) is in talks about possibly selling its market-making operation, its largest and most profitable business, but it is not known if a deal will happen, a source said on Saturday.

Apple Inc (AAPL.O) has asked a federal court to add six more products to its patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung Electronics Co (005930.KS), including the Samsung Galaxy Note II, in the latest in move in an ongoing legal war between the two companies.

U.S. shoppers went to stores earlier this Thanksgiving weekend and bought online more than in years past, giving retailers a strong start to the holiday shopping season, data showed on Sunday.

Black Friday's online sales topped $1 billion for the first time ever as more consumers used the internet do their early holiday shopping, comScore Inc (SCOR.O) said on Sunday.

U.S.-based stock funds suffered the most outflows since late July as U.S. lawmakers inched ahead in talks to avert the "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and spending cuts set to occur in January, data from Thomson Reuters' Lipper service showed on Friday.

European banks have asked the European Commission to postpone the introduction of tougher global bank capital rules by a year to 2014 after U.S. regulators delayed application of the new requirements.

U.S. stocks rose for a fifth day during a holiday-shortened, thinly traded session on Friday as investors picked up recently beaten-down shares of large technology companies.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI gained 172.79 points, or 1.35 percent, to 13,009.68. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX rose 18.12 points, or 1.30 percent, to 1,409.15. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC climbed 40.30 points, or 1.38 percent, to 2,966.85.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson/editing by Chris Pizzey)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency