European Shares Seen Tad Lower At Open

European stocks are seen opening lower on Friday after Amazon warned investors its sales growth would decelerate in the third quarter.

Spiking Delta COVID variant cases, signs of slowing growth in the United States and mounting worries over China’s regulatory crackdown on the private tuition, tech and property sectors may also weigh on markets.

Asian markets were mostly lower, with benchmark indexes in New Zealand and Japan falling over 1 percent on concerns about how the pandemic is impending America’s economic recovery.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down over 2 percent as reassurances from Chinese regulators failed to soothe investors’ nerves.

The dollar held near one-month low and was on track for its worst weekly showing since May, while gold held near a two-week high. Oil fell in Asian trade but headed for a solid weekly gain.

Flash quarterly national accounts and inflation reports are due from euro area and other major Eurozone economies later in the day, headlining a busy day for the European economic news.

Across the Atlantic, trading may be impacted by another batch of U.S. economic data, including reports on personal income and spending, Chicago-area business activity and consumer sentiment.

U.S. stocks eked out modest gains overnight as weaker than expected data cemented expectations that monetary policy will remain accommodative a while longer.

The Commerce Department said real U.S. GDP surged up by 6.5 percent in the second quarter following a 6.3 percent jump in the first quarter. Economists had expected GDP to spike by 8.5 percent.

Pending home sales dropped in June and jobless claims pulled back less than expected in the week ended July 24th, offering more evidence that the economic recovery has started to slow.

The Dow and the S&P 500 set new record intraday highs before ending up around 0.4 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.1 percent.

European markets advanced on Thursday, with dovish Fed comments on interest rates and a slew of upbeat earnings updates underpinning sentiment.

The pan European Stoxx 600 gained half a percent. The German DAX rose half a percent, France’s CAC 40 index edged up 0.4 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 added 0.9 percent.

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