By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - European stock markets are seen opening higher Friday, helped by the rebound on Wall Street as Federal Reserve officials managed to ease investor jitters over growing inflationary pressures.
At 2:05 AM ET (0705 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.1% higher, CAC 40 futures in France climbed 0.6% and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. rose 0.4%.
All three major U.S. stock indexes notched solid gains on Thursday, bouncing back from three straight days of selling on worries that rising inflation will push the Federal Reserve into tapering its ultra easy monetary policies earlier than it is currently guiding.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1.3%, or over 400 points, higher, the S&P 500 gained 1.2%, its biggest percentage gain in over a month, while the Nasdaq Composite picked up the rear, rising 0.7%.
This positive tone has continued in Asia, with Japan’s Nikkei leading the rebound, gaining over 2%, and Europe is expected to follow suit.
Federal Reserve officials have been out in force reiterating that price pressures from the reopening of the economy would prove transitory. Overnight, Governor Christopher Waller signaled that rates won't rise for quite some time, echoing comments from Lael Brainard and Richard Clarida earlier in the week.
Back in Europe, evidence of inflationary pressures on this side of the pond will come from Spanish April CPI data, although the expected annual gain of 2.2% is nowhere near the levels seen in the U.S..
In corporate news, Toshiba (OTC:TOSYY) could be in the spotlight after Reuters reported that the Japanese firm’s European business has been hit by a cyberattack, just days after Colonial Pipeline suffered a similar fate in America.
Reckitt Benckiser (LON:RKT) could also be in focus after Reuters reported the British consumer goods company has shortlisted a number of bidders to submit binding offers for its infant formula business in China.
Oil prices edged lower Friday, continuing the previous session’s selloff amid a broad retreat in commodities that followed a sharp pick-up in consumer prices. Additionally, Colonial Pipeline, the largest fuel pipeline in the United States, resumed operations after an almost weeklong closure.
That said, losses are small as traders digest a broadly positive assessment of the outlook for demand growth from the International Energy Agency earlier in the week.
U.S. crude futures traded 0.6% lower at $63.42 a barrel, having fallen 3.4% on Thursday, the biggest drop in more than a month. The Brent contract fell 0.7% to $66.60. Both contracts have fallen around 2% this week.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,827.30/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.2% higher at 1.2098.