European stock futures edge higher; final eurozone CPI data due

investing.com:

Investing.com — European stock markets are expected to open higher Friday, looking to end a volatile week on a positive note ahead of the final release of eurozone inflation data for October.

At 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.2% higher, CAC 40 futures in France climbed 0.3% and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. rose 0.3%. 

The main European equity indices are set to post weekly gains, admittedly having seen some abrupt swings, as global inflation levels have tended to surprise to the downside, lifting expectations that central banks may be at peak levels for interest rates.

A sharp drop in oil prices bodes well for a further decline in headline inflation globally.

The final reading of the eurozone’s October consumer price index should confirm that trend later in the session, as the headline figure is expected to be confirmed falling to 2.9% on an annual basis, a hefty drop from 4.3% the prior month.

ECB President Christine Lagarde is set to speak at the European Banking Congress in Frankfurt later in the session, and her comments will be parsed carefully for clues of the intentions of policy makers regarding interest rates after the central bank paused its cycle of hikes last month. 

Also on the European data slate, U.K. retail sales slumped 0.3% on the month in October, an annual fall of 2.7%, and U.K. consumers continued to struggle from higher interest rates and elevated inflation levels.

In the corporate sector, Assicurazioni Generali (BIT:GASI) posted a hefty rise in nine-month adjusted net profit as higher premiums offset the bigger impact of claims from natural disasters, with the Italian insurer adding it was sticking to its targets to 2024.

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