European Shares Poised For Positive Opening

European stocks may open on a positive note Friday after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called for more aggressive spending and said the burst in prices will likely persist through the end of the year before fading.

Investors may also react to the news of President Joe Biden’s fiscal 2022 spending blueprint leaked out of Washington, which was first reported by The New York Times.

It was said that Biden will propose a $6 trillion budget later today that would take the United States to its highest sustained levels of federal spending since World War II.

Asian markets advanced amid signs the U.S. economic recovery from the pandemic is gaining momentum.

An uptick in the dollar and U.S. Treasury yields weighed on gold, with trading later in the day likely to be driven by reaction to the reading on inflation included in the Commerce Department’s report on personal income and spending.

The inflation reading is said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve and could have a significant impact on the outlook for monetary policy.

Closer home, Eurozone sentiment data as well as the latest readings on French consumer spending, finalized GDP, and prelim inflation will be in focus.

Brent crude futures nudged towards $70 a barrel on expectations of a strong rebound in global fuel demand. Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, continued to trade below the $40,000 level.

Overnight, U.S. stocks ended mostly higher as jobless claims fell to a new pandemic low in another sign of economic reopening, and GDP growth in Q1 came in unrevised at 6.4 percent in the second estimate.

The Dow rose 0.4 percent and the S&P 500 inched up 0.1 percent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished marginally lower.

European stocks ended mixed on Thursday amid apprehension over central bank policy tightening. The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 0.3 percent.

France’s CAC 40 index added 0.7 percent, while the German DAX dropped 0.3 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 slid 0.1 percent.