LONDON — European markets were lower on Friday as investors reacted to an expected dip in euro zone inflation and a swathe of earnings this week.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was around 0.6% lower by 2:23 p.m. London time (10:23 a.m. ET), with major bourses and almost all sectors in negative territory.
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index slipped over 0.5%, Germany’s DAX fell 0.7%, while France’s CAC moved around 0.5% lower. Italy’s FTSE MIB and Spain’s IBEX 35 also edged around 0.2% lower.
In the U.S., Apple and Amazon posted earnings after the close Thursday. Amazon said its cloud computing unit’s revenue increased 20% in the third quarter, beating Wall Street’s estimates and sending shares more than 13% higher. Apple also reported strong fiscal fourth-quarter earnings; its shares rose about 3%.
Back in Europe, inflation is expected to come in at 2.1% in October, down from 2.2% the month prior, according to a flash estimate from the European Union’s data office Eurostat. Services is tipped to have the highest rate, at 3.4%. Energy, in comparison, is expected at -1%. In terms of countries, Estonia looks to have the highest increase, at 4.5%. At the other end of the spectrum is Cyprus, which is facing expected inflation of 0.3%.
The euro zone economy grew a better-than-expected 0.2% in the third quarter, narrowly beating estimates of 0.1%, according to flash data from Eurostat on Thursday.
The European Central Bank, meanwhile, held its key deposit facility rate at 2% for the third consecutive time, having last cut rates in June.
Global markets were also assessing the in-person meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Asia on Thursday. Trump said he had reached a one-year agreement with Xi on rare earths and other critical minerals, and that Washington will cut fentanyl-related tariffs on Beijing to 10% after their meeting in South Korea. President Xi is next expected to meet Canadian, Japanese and Thai leaders.
Elsewhere, oil is set for its third monthly decline, with Brent crude futures last seen little changed for the session at $65.06 a barrel.
The gold rush may also be cooling as the precious metal — which investors often flock to as a stable asset in times of volatility — fell below $4,000 an ounce on Thursday following the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut rates the day before. However, it rebounded by early afternoon Friday and was last seen trading around $4,025.6.
It’s a quieter day for results Friday, with Big Oil firms Chevron and Exxon Mobil expected to report in the U.S., as well as consumer goods manufacturer Colgate-Palmolive.
Asia-Pacific markets were mostly higher overnight with Japan stocks leading gains as investors assessed a truce between Washington and Beijing.
Chinese manufacturing and tech capabilities now appear to be in the spotlight as Korean semiconductor giant Samsung announced plans to buy and deploy a cluster of 50,000 Nvidia GPUs to improve its chip manufacturing for mobile devices and robots.
— CNBC’s Kif Leswing contributed to this report.
