A member of staff walks beneath a trading board at the London Stock Exchange on April 25, 2025 in London, England.
Carl Court | Getty Images News | Getty Images
European stocks look set to open lower on Friday, as worries about an artificial intelligence bubble and the global economy shake investor confidence.
Futures tied to London’s FTSE 100 were seen trading 0.5% lower, while those tied to Germany’s DAX index were up 0.2%. French CAC 40 futures, meanwhile, were down by 0.4%, and futures tied to Switzerland’s SMI index lost 0.8%.
China’s economic slowdown ramped up in October, with data showing fixed asset investment – which includes the country’s closely watched real estate sector – contracted in the first 10 months of the year. Retail sales softened, meanwhile, and industrial output growth also slowed.
Investors are also reeling from big losses on Wall Street on Thursday, as concerns about AI valuations and the U.S. interest rate trajectory mounted. Big Tech stocks were hit particularly hard, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shedding 2.3% by the closing bell.
Comments from Federal Reserve officials in recent weeks have prompted money markets to reconsider the likelihood of a December rate cut from the central bank. By Friday morning, markets were pricing in a 52.1% chance of the Fed cutting by 25 basis points at its next meeting. A month ago, the market had assigned a 95% probability to an end of year cut.
Back in Europe, corporate earnings continue to hold the spotlight, with German insurer Allianz among the companies reporting on Friday.
Allianz said it had achieved record results in the first nine months of the year, bolstered by double-digit growth in operating profit in the third quarter. Operating profit for the three months to September jumped 12.6% to 4.4 billion euros ($5.1 billion), largely driven by the firm’s Property-Casualty division.
The company said it expects to achieve an operating profit of at least 17 billion euros this year, which sits in the upper end of its full-year guidance range.
Across the Atlantic, U.S. stock futures were little changed on Friday morning following Wall Street’s Thursday sell off.
Overnight in Asia, stocks fell as investors monitored Wall Street moves and reacted to the Chinese data.
