At around 09:20 in Lisbon, the EuroStoxx 600 was down 0.11% to 573.81 points.
The stock markets in Paris and Frankfurt fell by 0.41% and 0.15%, respectively, along with those in Madrid and Milan, which depreciated by 0.12% and 0.14%. London was the exception, rising by 0.06%.
The Lisbon stock exchange maintained the opening trend, with the main index, PSI, dropping 0.53% to 8,309.06 points, after closing at a new high since February 2011, at 8,340.83 points, on October 16.
The U.S. Department of Labor Statistics is releasing September’s inflation data today, following an increase of two-tenths to 2.9% in August, attributed to the White House’s tariff policy.
After Wall Street’s stock exchange ended Thursday higher due to the appreciation of tech stocks, futures point to increases of 0.22% for the Dow Jones and 0.45% for the Nasdaq.
The Dow Jones closed Thursday up 0.31% to 46,734.61 points, against the new high since it was created in 1896, of 46,924.74 points, recorded on October 21.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq index closed up 0.89% to 22,941.80 points, against its all-time high of 23,043.38 on October 8.
In Asia, the Nikkei index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange closed up 1.39%, and the benchmark of the Shanghai Stock Exchange recorded gains of 0.71%, with Shenzhen rising by 1.97%. The Hang Seng index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was up 0.75% shortly before the session’s end.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that the Asia-Pacific economies will grow by 4.5% in 2025, an improvement of 0.6 percentage points from the previous forecast, although it cautions about the risk of the impact of U.S. tariffs and rising protectionism on the region’s exports.
For China, the IMF revised its growth forecast for 2025 upward by eight-tenths to 4.8%.
In a moment of tension between the world’s two largest economies, a meeting is scheduled between U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.
Meanwhile, China announced it will expand market access in sensitive sectors and will not seek new preferential agreements at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The price of gold, historically considered a safe-haven asset in times of uncertainty, was down 0.92% today, with an ounce trading at $4,095.04, against the all-time high of $4,347.86 recorded on October 20.
In contrast, Brent crude, the European benchmark, for December delivery, is falling to $65.55, from $65.99 on Thursday.
On Thursday, Brent rose more than 5% due to fears of a supply shortage caused by U.S. sanctions on Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil.
In the debt market, the 10-year bond yields in Germany fell to 2.573%, from 2.582%, as well as those in France, to 3.375%, from 3.381% on Thursday, and the peak of 3.600% on September 25.
The euro advanced to $1.1610 in the Frankfurt currency market, from $1.1607 on Thursday, and the new four-year high of $1.1865 recorded on September 16.
