On Friday, most European stock markets are expected to open with small losses as investors wait cautiously for the important monthly U.S. jobs report, which could change how the Federal Reserve handles money.
At 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany was flat, the CAC 40 futures contract in France was down 0.3%, and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. was down 0.1%.
This week, the stock market did better because Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that the U.S. central bank might slow the rate of interest rate hikes at its last policy-setting meeting at the end of the month.
Related: European shares are subdued and expected to climb for the sixth consecutive week.
The Fed has raised rates by 75 basis points at each of its last four meetings, but the market is now preparing for a 50 basis point cut on December 14.
But inflation is still very high, and data released on Thursday showed that the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, the PCE inflation index, stayed well above the central bank’s target range in October.
The next thing that could change the Fed’s mind is the U.S. jobs report, which will be released later on Friday. Economists think that about 200,000 jobs were added in November, which is less than the 261,000 jobs that were added in October.
Back in Europe, inflation in the Eurozone dropped more than expected in November, but at 10% on an annual basis, it was still close to a record high.
Christine Lagarde, the head of the European Central Bank, said on Friday that some European governments’ fiscal policies could lead to too much demand, which would force the central bank to tighten monetary policy more than it would have to.
Europe will get trade data for Germany in October and producer prices for the Eurozone for the same month on Friday.
In the business world, Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) is likely to stay in the news on Friday. According to analysts at the well-known investment bank JPMorgan, the bank’s continued client loss could lead to takeover rumours and the partial sale of its domestic unit.
Crude oil prices were mostly flat on Friday, but they are expected to go up for the week because of hopes that China will loosen its COVID restrictions even more. This would increase economic activity and demand for energy in China, which is the biggest crude importer in the world.
Beijing said it would let some people with COVID stay home and isolate themselves in the country’s capital. This is another softening of the country’s strict stance on COVID, and it gives people hope that the country’s strict quarantine rules will be loosened in the coming days after a period of civil unrest.
In other news, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its partners, known as OPEC+, will meet virtually on Sunday to decide how much oil to produce in the future. At the same time, European Union governments are still talking about how high the price of Russian oil that is shipped by sea should be capped.
Related: Ahead of the U.S. Jobs Report, European stock futures go up, and gains in Asia help.
By 2:00 p.m. ET, U.S. crude futures were down 0.1% to $81.12 a barrel, while the Brent contract went up 0.1% to $86.92.
After going down for three weeks in a row, both benchmarks were on track for their first weekly gains.
Also, gold futures went down 0.1% to $1,813.85/oz, and EUR/USD went up 0.1% to 1.0527.