U.S. equity futures fell on Monday along with stocks in Europe as a note of caution crept in ahead of this week's interest-rate decisions on both sides of the Atlantic.

Contracts on the S&P 500 dropped about 0.8% after Wall Street extended January's stellar rally on Friday as traders brushed off disappointing outlooks from some of the world's largest technology companies. Nasdaq 100 futures were down more than 1%, though the gauge is still heading for the best start to a year since 1999. Treasury yields rose.

Federal Reserve officials are expected to raise rates by a quarter percentage point on Wednesday, dialing back the size of the increase for a second straight meeting, after recent data suggested the central bank's aggressive campaign to slow inflation is working. But Fed Chair Jerome Powell may push back against markets' expectations that the central bank will soon cease raising borrowing costs and then cut them later this year.

"Everything hinges on what happens this week at the central bank meetings, not what they will do as we have a good sense of that, but more about their commentary," said Fahad Kamal, chief investment officer at SG Kleinwort Hambros Bank Ltd. "We are seeing some profit-taking in anticipation of what could be some pretty hawkish commentary and after a spectacular January."

The Stoxx Europe 600 index dropped about 0.5%, taking some of the luster off what was shaping to be the biggest January gain on record, after data showed a surprise contraction of the German economy in the fourth quarter. Technology stocks led the decline as Prosus NV slumped more than 5% after a rout in Hong Kong's tech sector.

European bonds fell, with yields on benchmark German securities up six basis points, after Spanish inflation unexpectedly quickened, prompting traders to boost bets on how high the the European Central Bank will raise interest rates. The euro gained.

The ECB and the Bank of England are each projected to hike by half a percentage point when they deliver decisions a day after the Fed.

"For the next step of the rally I think we need more and that will really be to prove not only that we are not having a profound earnings recession, but also that companies can remain robust through this challenging period," said Marcus Morris-Eyton, portfolio manager at Allianz Global Investors, on Bloomberg TV. "I would urge investors to be selective, but generally we are relatively bullish on where we are currently."

Asian benchmarks were mixed. Indian shares underperformed as the rout in Adani Group stocks swelled to more than $70 billion amid a fight with short seller Hindenburg Research. The Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index slid from intraday highs, coming in just short of entering a bull market as onshore exchanges resumed after the week-long Lunar New Year holiday.

Meanwhile, hedge funds are betting this year's stellar start for Treasuries is too good to last, quietly building up the biggest bearish bet on bond futures on record.

An aggregate measure of net-short noncommercial positions across all Treasuries maturities has hit 2.4 million contracts, according to the latest data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as of Jan. 24.

Oil was little changed as traders parsed signals on demand from China while tracking an uptick in tensions in the Middle East after Israel was reported to have carried out a drone strike against a target in Iran.

Robert Brand reports for Bloomberg News.

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