© Reuters peter nurse
Investing.com – European stocks open slightly higher on Friday as investors await key euro zone inflation data ahead of the release of the widely watched US monthly jobs report is expected.
At 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT), the German contract traded 0.4% higher, the French contract was up 0.5% and the UK contract was up 0.4%.
Europe’s major stock indices rose earlier this week after a faster-than-expected slowdown in their rate of rise, raising hopes that aggressive rate hikes could be tempered reasonably quickly.
This ensures a firm focus on releasing data later in the session.
The consumer price index is expected to grow 9.7% on an annualized basis in December, only marginally lower than the previous month’s 10.1% growth, but the market could have a bigger positive surprise. I have some confidence that there is. Drop.
Earlier on Friday, it rose 1.1% for the month of November, but still represents a 5.9% annual decline, with the country down 5.3% in the month.
European data could form the basis for the US employment report later in the session.
A U.S. report released on Thursday continues to point to a strong labor market despite the Fed’s attempts to keep inflation under control, adding 200,000 jobs in December and lowering the labor rate. is considered to remain at a healthy 3.7%.
A healthy number like this could once again undermine bets that the end of rising interest rates is imminent.
In the corporate sector, Sodexo (EPA:) is likely to take center stage on Friday after the French catering and foodservice group outperformed forecasts in the first quarter to pandemic levels.
Oil prices rose on Friday after last week’s relatively bullish US inventory data was released, but the market continues to expect heavy weekly losses as demand concerns continue to weigh on.
Energy Information Administration data released Thursday showed an increase of 1.7 million barrels last week, but most of the increase was due to the release of nearly 3 million barrels from the Strategic Oil Reserve.
In addition, distillate inventories, including diesel and gasoline, fell more than expected, while gasoline inventories fell by 346,000 barrels.
By 02:00 ET, the futures traded 0.8% higher at $74.22 a barrel and the contract rose 0.6% to $79.17.
That said, both crude contracts were expected to fall about 7% this week on concerns that a global recession in early 2023 would hit demand hard.
It then rose 0.2% to $1,843.90/oz and fell 0.1% to trade at 1.0516.
