European markets were cautiously higher on Friday, but remained on course for a bruising week as global stocks reacted to policy tightening from major central banks.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 nudged 0.4% higher in early trade, with travel and leisure stocks gaining 1.3% while oil and gas stocks fell 1.7%.
In terms of individual share price movement, Finland’s Nokian Tyres climbed more than 8% after raising its net sales guidance for 2022.
The European blue chip index closed Thursday’s session down 2.5% amid a global stock sell-off, as aggressive interest rate hikes enacted by central banks to rein in surging inflation fueled fears of a recession. Shares across the continent are down more than 4% on the week.
The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark funds rate by 75 basis points, its largest hike since 1994, before the Swiss National Bank surprised markets with its first hike since 2007 and the Bank of England implemented its fifth rate rise in a row.
The European Central Bank announced following an emergency meeting on Wednesday that it plans to create a new tool to tackle the risk of euro zone fragmentation, a move aimed at assuaging fears of a fresh debt crisis for the common currency bloc.
Stateside, the S&P 500 is poised for its worst week since March 2020 after several key pieces of economic data fell short of forecasts this week, ranging from May retail sales to housing starts, compounding the Fed-induced recession fears.
Stock futures rose in early premarket trade on Friday as Wall Street looks to arrest the slide.
Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed overnight, with Japan leading losses among the region’s major markets. The Bank of Japan on Friday decided to maintain its ultra-loose monetary policy stance, diverging substantially from its global peers.
On the data front in Europe, final euro zone inflation readings for May are due on Friday morning.
Source: CNBC
Image Source: Pixabay
