European Shares Set To Follow Wall Street Higher

European stocks may open higher on Friday, cheered by the overnight’s rally on Wall Street.

Asian markets were mostly higher in thin holiday trade, with trading closed in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan for the Dragon Boat Festival holiday.

Gold prices hit a one-month high on dollar weakness, while oil prices held steady on doubts about whether the decision by OPEC+ to increase output by more than 200,000 barrels a day can bridge Russian deficit.

Bond yields were relatively stable, with the 10-year Treasury yield falling to 2.91 percent from 2.93 percent, despite hawkish comments from Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard.

Brainard told CNBC it’s “very hard to see the case for a pause” in rate hikes and the central bank still has “a lot of work to do to get inflation down to the 2 percent target.”

In economic releases, Eurozone retail sales data will be in focus today. Across the Atlantic, a report on service sector activity along with the closely-watched monthly jobs data, which includes both public and private sector jobs, is likely to remain in the spotlight.

Economists expect U.S. employment to jump by 325,000 jobs in May after an increase of 428,000 jobs in April. The unemployment rate is expected to edge down to 3.5 percent from 3.6 percent.

U.S. stocks finished higher overnight to snap a two-day losing streak, as bets that the Fed will slow the pace of rate hikes outweighed weak private payrolls data and the latest bleak corporate earnings forecast from Microsoft.

The Dow rallied 1.3 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged as much as 2.7 percent and the S&P 500 added 1.8 percent to reach their best closing levels in almost a month.

European stocks closed Thursday’s session higher in thin holiday trade, with the U.K. market closed for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.6 percent, after having lost almost 2 percent over the previous two sessions. The German DAX gained 1 percent and France’s CAC 40 index advanced 1.3 percent.