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Investing.com – European stock markets traded in a subdued fashion Friday, with investors wary of taking positions ahead of a highly anticipated speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
At 3:45 AM ET (0845 GMT), the DAX in Germany traded 0.1% higher, the CAC 40 in France was flat and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.1%.
The Jackson Hole symposium, the Fed’s annual research conference for central bankers, is being held virtually this year, because of the Covid-19 virus. It has been the focus of the market all week as it has been often used by Fed policymakers in the past to provide guidance on future policy.
Powell is set to speak at 10 AM ET (1400 GMT), and his comments are expected to sketch a rough timeline for tapering the Fed’s bond-buying program. This would mark the beginning of the end for the central bank’s unprecedented monetary support in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
Also prompting caution Friday was the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan after suicide bomb explosions outside the Kabul airport late Thursday killed numerous civilians and at least 13 U.S. soldiers.
Back in Europe, French consumer confidence edged lower in August, with worries about the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus and slowing economic momentum weighing. In Italy consumer confidence fell by less than expected, although business confidence turned down more sharply.
In corporate news, Just Eat Takeaway (F:T5W) stock fell 3.5% after New York approved legislation to license food-delivery apps and permanently cap commissions they can charge restaurants. The news will affect GrubHub (NYSE:GRUB), which JET is in the process of acquiring.
Morphosys (DE:MORG) stock added 3.1% after the European Commission approved the German biotech’s cancer drug.
Elsewhere, crude prices rose Friday, on track to post strong gains this week, with oil companies shutting down production in the Gulf of Mexico as Tropical Storm Ida approaches the region, threatening near-term supply disruption as it nears hurricane status.
Of interest later Friday will be the release of the Baker Hughes rig count data, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s data on net positioning will also be studied for clues about the future direction of the market.
By 4 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 1.7% higher at $68.59 a barrel, heading for a weekly gain of more than 8%, while the Brent contract rose 1.3% to $71.10, on track for a rise of more than 9% this week.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.4% to $1,801.45/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.1755.
