European stocks may open higher on Friday after U.S. equities broke a two-session losing streak to finish modestly higher overnight, led by banks and energy shares.
That said, trading volumes are likely to remain thin ahead of the long weekend for the Christmas holidays.
The euro slid against the yen and dollar after voters in Catalonia favored separatists wanting to break away from Spain. Gold hovered below two-week highs in thin pre-holiday trade, while oil prices slipped in Asian trading.
The Office for National Statistics is set to release U.K. final GDP data later today, with economists expecting GDP to grow 0.4 percent sequentially, in line with the preliminary estimate.
Germany's GfK consumer confidence survey results are also due. The forward-looking sentiment index is seen unchanged at 10.7 in January.
Across the Atlantic, data on personal income and spending, durable goods orders, new home sales and consumer sentiment are slated to be released later in the day.
Asian stock markets are broadly higher after the U.S. Congress passed a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown.
Overnight, U.S. stocks eked out modest gains following passage of the landmark tax reform bill. Encouraging economic data on third-quarter GDP, jobless claims, regional manufacturing activity and leading economic indicators also added to the upbeat sentiment.
The Dow and the S&P 500 rose about 0.2 percent while the Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.1 percent.
European markets recovered from earlier losses to close notably higher on Thursday after two days of losses. The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index advanced 0.6 percent.
The German DAX rose 0.3 percent, France's CAC 40 index gained 0.6 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 rallied 1.1 percent.
by RTT Staff Writer
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