European stock markets are expected to open slightly lower on Friday ahead of ECB President Christine Lagarde’s speech and the U.S. jobs report.
At 02:00 AM ET (0600 GMT), DAX futures in Germany declined 0.3%, CAC 40 futures in France fell 0.1%, and FTSE 100 futures in the U.K. sank 0.4%.
European indices closed substantially higher on Thursday, continuing the bounce witnessed following the first-half sell-off as investors try to shake off recession fears.
Investors are nervous about the impact of rapid rate hikes on the global economy.
Christine Lagarde’s statement later in the session on global economic concerns will be of great interest ahead of the central bank’s next meeting, when it is expected to raise interest rates.
The next monthly U.S. jobs report will also shed light on economic trends, with the number of Americans in paid work projected to rise moderately but not as much as in May.
Friday’s economic agenda includes French and Italian trade data.
The killing of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe while he was campaigning for a national election and the ongoing political crisis in the U.K., where Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned, have made global markets nervous.
Oil prices stabilised on Friday, but they are on track to fall for a second week in a row because people are worried about a recession and less people are buying oil.
Last week, U.S. oil inventories hit a two-month high, with a little over 8 million barrels.
U.S. oil futures fell 0.1% to $102.63 a barrel at 2:00 AM ET, while Brent increased 0.3% to $104.98. Both benchmarks sank to three-month lows on Wednesday, while Brent’s $10.73 slide on Tuesday was the third largest since 1988.
Gold futures increased 0.1% to $1,741.35/oz, and EUR/USD fell to 1.0158.
