European stocks were muted on Friday morning as investors monitor the prospect of a steady economic rebound and fears of a tapering of monetary stimulus.

TICKER COMPANY NAME PRICE CHANGE %CHANGE VOLUME
.FTSE FTSE 100 FTSE 7109.97 35.91 0.51 69154
.GDAXI DAX DAX 15589.23 0.00 0.00 0
.FCHI CAC 40 Index CAC 6631.15 0.00 0.00 74425276
The pan-European Stoxx 600 hovered fractionally above the flatline in early trade. Banks and retail stocks added 0.6% to lead gains while health care and autos fell 0.3%.

Shares in Asia-Pacific broadly advanced during Friday’s trade, led by Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, while U.S. stock futures are pointing to a higher open on Wall Street later in the day.

Investors will be watching for a key U.S. inflation indicator on Friday when the Commerce Department releases the core personal consumption expenditures index.

Economists polled by Dow Jones expect prices to have risen by 3.4% in May from a year earlier. They expect a rise of 0.6% from April to May.

monetary stimulus at full throttle.

Germany’s GFK consumer sentiment index, published before the bell Friday, showed consumer confidence in Europe’s largest economy rising to -0.3 points heading into July, vastly outstripping a consensus forecast of -4.0, and up from -6.9 the previous month.