European stock futures higher; growth and inflation data in focus

Investing.com - European stock markets are expected to open higher Friday, helped by strong overseas gains ahead of crucial euro zone inflation and growth economic data.

At 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.5% higher, CAC 40 futures in France traded flat, and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. rose 0.4%.

The major indices posted hefty gains on Wall Street Thursday because of strong earnings reports from a slew of companies, led by Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META). 

This positive tone continued in Asia overnight, helped by a dovish outlook from the Bank of Japan in new Governor Kazuo Ueda’s first monetary policy meeting, and is set to result in more gains in Europe.

The economic data calendar is packed in Europe Friday, with investors looking for more clues as to the thinking of European Central Bank policymakers ahead of next week’s policy-setting meeting.

The ECB is widely expected to raise interest rates in early May, but the size of the increase is still up for debate as is future monetary policy decisions. 

The state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous, released its April consumer price index earlier Friday, coming in at an annual 6.8%, still at an elevated level.  

There are also inflation numbers from the other German states as well as from France and Spain later in the session, as well as German unemployment data, and crucially, the euro zone first-quarter gross domestic product release.

Euro zone GDP is expected to rise 0.2% in the first quarter, an improvement from the flat growth in the previous three months, an annual rise of 1.4%. 

However, the French GDP number, also released earlier Friday, offered hope as it surprised to the upside, growing 0.8% in the quarter, ahead of the 0.5% expected. 

Additionally, EU finance ministers and central bank governors hold a meeting in Stockholm.

The corporate earnings season continues Friday, with German vehicle manufacturer Mercedes-Benz (ETR:MBGn) raising the outlook for its vans division, seeing higher demand in the U.S. and China.

Oil prices edged higher Friday, helped by the risk on sentiment caused by generally upbeat corporate earnings, but look set to post a second weekly drop as the disappointing U.S. growth data added to fears about a global slowdown. 

By 02:00 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.5% higher at $75.12 a barrel, while the Brent contract climbed 0.6% to $78.69.

Both benchmarks are set to decline over 3% this week, taking their drops close to 10% over the past two weeks. 

Additionally, gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,993.20/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.2% higher at 1.1008.