LONDON — European markets pulled back on Friday, tracking U.S. and Asian counterparts as global stocks start the fourth quarter on the backfoot.
TICKER COMPANY NAME PRICE CHANGE %CHANGE VOLUME
.FTSE FTSE 100 *FTSE 7022.54 -63.88 -0.9 49763747
.GDAXI DAX *DAX 15069.01 -191.68 -1.26 7284269
.FCHI CAC 40 Index CAC 6473.93 -46.08 -0.71 9056014
The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell 1% in early trade, with banks shedding 1.8% to lead losses as almost all sectors and major bourses slid into negative territory.
Shares in Asia-Pacific also suffered during Friday’s trade, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropping more than 2.5% to lead losses. Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong markets were closed for public holidays.
Stateside, U.S. futures pointed to opening losses on Wall Street in early premarket trading after the S&P 500 suffered its worst month since March 2020.
Global markets have been roiled by fears of persistent high inflation, slowing growth and rising rates.
All eyes will be on inflation figures due later in the day.
Flash estimate of inflation for the euro zone is due at 10 a.m. London time. Meanwhile, in the U.S., core personal consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred policy-guiding metric, is expected to rise 0.2% in August and 3.5% annually.
Deutsche Bank strategist says inflation surge raises the risk of a central bank policy error
Euro zone finance ministers will meet Monday to discuss the economic fallout from soaring energy prices, amid concern that they could impact the bloc’s recovery and disproportionately affect the poorest.
In Germany, the conservative CDU-CSU bloc is set to hold coalition talks with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) on Sunday, Reuters reported Thursday citing CDU-CSU sources. The conservative bloc narrowly lost out to the center-left Social Democratic Party (SDP) in last weekend’s federal election, but both sides are seeking alliances with other parties in the hopes of forming a coalition government.
two are up over 60%
In corporate news, BMW lifted its annual profit forecast in an ad hoc statement on Thursday to between 9.5% and 10.5%, up from 7% to 9%. The German automaker said higher prices outweighed the effects of the global semiconductor shortage and other supply chain problems.
British pub chain JD Wetherspoon reported earnings on Friday morning, while Daimler and Credit Suisse both held extraordinary general meetings.
On the data front, German retail sales climbed 1.1% month-on-month in August, official figures revealed on Friday, slightly below a Reuters consensus forecast of 1.5%.
