By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - European stock markets are expected to open largely lower Friday, with a slump in U.K. retail sales adding to concerns of a slowing global economic recovery as China continues its regulatory clampdown.
At 2:10 AM ET (0610 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.4% lower, CAC 40 futures in France dropped 0.1%, while the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. rose 0.2%.
European markets have struggled this week as investors turned more risk averse, weighed by concerns that the U.S. Federal Reserve may be on the verge of reining in its pandemic-era monetary stimulus measures. That’s added to worries about the spread of Covid-19 variants and the impact on global growth, China’s regulatory crackdown and turmoil in Afghanistan.
Earlier Friday, Chinese authorities passed a major data protection law on Friday, along the lines of Europe's Global Data Protection Regulation, the latest in a series of moves that will hit the way the country’s technology giants operate.
Back in Europe, U.K. retail sales slumped 2.5% on the month in July, a dramatic slowdown from the 0.5% growth in June, while German factory prices soared 1.9% in July, up 10.4% on the year and at a level that will surely catch the attention of the European Central Bank.
Remaining in the retail sector, private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice has raised its offer for WM Morrison Supermarkets (LON:MRW) to 7 billion pounds ($9.5 billion) as the battle for Britain’s fourth-largest grocer looks set to heat up. Marks and Spencer (LON:MKS), meanwhile, will be in the spotlight after raising its profit guidance for the full year, as revenue recovered to just 3% below its pre-pandemic level in the second quarter.
The move puts pressure on Fortress, the owner of Majestic Wine, which had increased its bid to 6.7 billion pounds at the start of August.
Elsewhere, oil prices edged higher Friday, rebounding from three-month lows, but are still heading for hefty weekly losses amid concerns about global demand growth, as measures to tackle the delta coronavirus variant hit mobility.
Crude has also been buffeted this month by the rise in the dollar on the prospect of the Federal Reserve cutting back its extraordinary monetary stimulus in the near future.
By 2:10 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.5% higher at $63.84 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 0.4% to $66.72. Both contracts are on course for weekly losses of around 6% after falling to their lowest levels since May on Thursday.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,789.15/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.1684.