European stocks look set to open lower on Friday as U.S. corporate earnings disappointed and caution set in ahead of the closely-watched monthly jobs report due later in the day.
U.S. employment is expected to increase by 180,000 jobs in January after increasing 148,000 jobs in December. The unemployment rate is expected to hold at 4.1 percent. There is a chance of a March Fed rate hike if the report remains fairly upbeat.
The dollar remains on the back foot ahead of payrolls data while U.S. crude prices rose for a third day after a survey showed strong compliance with output cuts by OPEC and others including Russia.
Asian stock markets are broadly lower on worries about rising bond yields after U.S. policymakers raised their forecast for inflation.
Investors also digested mixed earnings updates from the likes of Amazon, Apple, Visa and Alphabet and looked ahead to the release of January trade and inflation numbers from China due next week for further direction.
Overnight, U.S. stocks gave up early gains to end mostly lower despite solid gains by financials. A slew of economic reports painted a mostly positive picture of the economy, helping limit overall losses.
The Dow closed up about 0.1 percent while the S&P 500 finished marginally lower and the tech-heavy Nasdaq shed 0.4 percent.
European stocks ended Thursday's session in the red, extending losses for the fourth straight session.
The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index dropped half a percent. The German DAX tumbled 1.4 percent, France's CAC 40 index declined half a percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 slid 0.6 percent.
by RTT Staff Writer
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