European stock markets are expected to open marginally higher Friday, continuing the previous session’s positive tone on optimism around peak global rates, although focus was on key U.S. payrolls data later in the day.
At 03:00 ET (07:00 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.3% higher, CAC 40 futures in France climbed 0.3% and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. rose 0.1%.
Peak global rates?
European equities are having a strong week, following the lead from Wall Street, boosted by retreating global yields, surprisingly healthy corporate earnings and, most importantly, optimism that a number of senior central banks have concluded their rate-hiking cycles.
The Federal Reserve held interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, followed by the Bank of England on Thursday, while the European Central Bank had done the same last week.
The German DAX is on course to post gains of 3.1% for the week, the CAC 40 in Paris gains of 3.9% and the FTSE 100 in the U.K. is currently 2.1% higher.
U.S. jobs report in spotlight
This optimism, however, could be punctured by a stronger than expected official U.S. jobs report later in the session, as this will be one of the data sets the Fed looks at when deciding its next step.
Analysts expect to see the U.S. economy added 188,000 jobs in October, down from September’s 336,000. The unemployment rate is expected to remain the same, however, at 3.8%, while average hourly earnings are expected to have increased by 0.3% in October, following a 0.2% gain in September.
Back in Europe, the data slate includes French September industrial production and eurozone September unemployment.
SocGen results boosted by its investment bank
In corporate news, Societe Generale (OTC:SCGLY), France’s third-biggest listed bank, posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings, as a resilient performance from its investment bank offset the steep downturn seen at its French retail division.
Swiss Re (OTC:SSREY) posted a net profit in the third quarter after the reinsurer benefited from a lower level of large natural-catastrophe claims.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported, after the U.S. close Thursday, sales and profit for the fiscal fourth quarter that beat expectations, helped by an uptick in iPhone sales and a $1 billion boost to services revenue that offset large drops in Mac and iPad sales.
However, the tech giant’s sales forecast for the holiday quarter disappointed, hurt by weak demand for iPads.
Crude heading for hefty weekly losses
Oil prices edged higher Friday, adding to the previous session’s sharp gains after traders became increasingly confident that the Federal Reserve was done with its run of interest rate hikes, hitting the dollar.
By 03:00 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 0.3% higher at $82.73 a barrel, while the Brent contract climbed 0.2% to $87.04 a barrel. Both benchmarks gained more than $2 a barrel on Thursday.
However, both crude contracts were set to lose more than 3% for the week, their second consecutive losing week, as a lack of escalation in the Israel-Hamas war removed worries about disruptions to supply in this oil-rich region.
