By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - European stock markets traded lower Friday, with the U.K.’s retail sector in the spotlight after a slump in the country’s retail sales adding to concerns of a slowing global economic recovery.
At 3:30 AM ET (0730 GMT), the DAX in Germany traded 0.6% lower, the CAC 40 in France fell 0.3% and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.1%.
The U.K. retail sector has been in focus Friday, with private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice raising its offer for WM Morrison Supermarkets (LON:MRW) to 7 billion pounds ($9.5 billion) as the battle for Britain’s fourth-largest grocer heats up.
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, and Morrison’s stock climbed 4.7%, to a 52-week high, as the market anticipated a further counterbid.
Meanwhile, Marks and Spencer's (LON:MKS) stock soared almost 11% after the giant of the U.K. high street raised its profit guidance for the full year, as revenue recovered to just 3% below its pre-pandemic level in the second quarter.
Still, U.K. retail sales dropped 2.5% in July, a sharp slowdown from the revised 0.2% growth in June, which the ONS put down to the combination of Euro 2020 - which saw England reach the final of the tournament - and bad weather keeping shoppers away from shops.
European markets have struggled this week as investors turned more risk averse, driven 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 their 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, German factory prices soared 1.9% in July, up 10.4% on the year and at a level that is likely to catch the attention of the European Central Bank.
Elsewhere, oil prices stabilized Friday, near 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.
By 3:30 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.1% lower at $63.48 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 0.1% to $66.37. 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 0.4% to $1,789.70/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.1681.