European Shares Set For Steady Open
European stocks are set to open higher on Friday after earnings optimism helped Wall Street edge toward a record high overnight. Intel, Twitter Inc. and Snap Inc. posted strong results after the U.S. closing bell.
Asian stocks were trading mixed, with Japanese markets shut for a holiday as the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics officially kicked off.
Shares fell in China and Hong Kong after reports that Chinese regulators are considering serious, perhaps unprecedented, penalties for ride-hailing giant Didi Global.
Gold edged lower and was set for its first weekly fall in five. Yields on U.S. Treasuries inched up slightly while the dollar index held close to a 3-1/2-month peak against its rivals and was heading for its second straight weekly rise.
Oil trimmed overnight gains but held around the highest in a week on expectations of tightening supplies. Bitcoin held above $32,000.
It’s a busy day ahead on the European economic calendar, with preliminary private sector PMIS for Germany, France, U.K. and the euro area likely to be in focus. U.S. private sector PMIS are also due later in the session.
At 2.00 am ET, the Office for National Statistics releases U.K. retail sales data for June. Economists expect retail sales to grow 0.4 percent on a monthly basis, reversing a 1.4 percent fall in May.
U.S. stocks rose for a third day running on Thursday, though markets finished off their highs on the back of mixed earnings updates and data showing an unexpected jump in jobless claims.
The Dow inched up 0.1 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index gained 0.4 percent and the S&P 500 added 0.2 percent.
European stocks ended mixed on Thursday despite dovish comments from the European Central Bank signaling that it would keep interest rates low for longer to support the economy.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.6 percent. The German DAX inched up 0.6 percent and France’s CAC 40 index rose 0.3 percent while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.4 percent after Unilever warned that surging commodity costs would squeeze its full-year operating margin.
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