FX.co ★ European Shares Seeking Rebound With Tech Earnings In Focus

European stocks are set to start strong on Friday, following better-than-expected earnings reports for Q1 from technology giants Alphabet and Microsoft. These solid reports have somewhat calmed worries surrounding the financial impact of artificial intelligence.

Reports from energy leaders Chevron and Exxon Mobil are anticipated before the US market opens today.

Market performance later in the day could be swayed by the Commerce Department's report on personal income and expenditure, as it includes inflation readings favored by the Federal Reserve.

Meanwhile, in France, the national statistics agency, INSEE, will release its consumer sentiment survey results later today. It is predicted that the confidence index will see a rise to 92 in April from 91 in March.

Asian markets had a mixed performance, with the yen depreciating to 156 against the dollar. This follows the Bank of Japan’s decision to maintain interest rates and its commitment to continue bond purchases as per its March decision.

The dollar stabilized in the Asian market after suffering a dip due to signs of slower GDP growth and persistent inflationary pressure in the world's largest economy.

Gold remained stable but is on its way to logging its first weekly decrease in six weeks due to lessening worries about the Middle East and the prediction that the Federal Reserve will prolong higher interest rates.

Oil prices increased and are poised to close higher this week after consecutive losses over the past two weeks. This comes after US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen claimed the US economy was "firing on all cylinders" and inflation was moving towards a more normal level.

In contrast, US stocks closed lower, despite ending off their daily lows, following disappointing earning updates from IBM and Meta Platforms.

Treasury yields rose as freshly released data showed slowing GDP growth but rising inflation, sparking fears of stagflation.

The slowdown in US GDP to 1.6% on an annual basis in the first quarter, subsequent to a 3.4% surge in Q4 of 2023, was also revealed. Core inflation for Q1 was stronger, coming in at 3.7%. This is a notable increase from a 2% annualized rate, which has now pushed back expected rate cuts to December.

On Wall Street, the Dow dropped 1%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid 0.6%, and the S&P 500 slipped 0.5%.

European stocks mainly fell on Thursday, with mixed earnings and poor US data outweighing significant M&A news from the mining sector.

The pan-European STOXX 600 dropped 0.6%. Germany's DAX fell 1% and France's CAC 40 dipped 0.9%, while the UK's FTSE 100 rose by 0.5%.