European Shares Seen Opening Mixed On Hawkish Fed Talk

(RTTNews) - European stocks may open on a mixed note Friday after a U.S. Federal Reserve official said there is no rush to begin cutting interest rates.

Interest rate cuts should be delayed by at least another couple of months to see where prices are heading, Fed Governor Christopher Waller said on Thursday.

"The risk of waiting a little longer to ease policy is lower than the risk of acting too soon and possibly halting or reversing the progress we've made on inflation," he said.

Asian stocks were seeing modest gains, with Japanese markets closed for a public holiday.

Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong markets were little changed after data showed new home prices in 70 of China's major cities fell at a faster pace year-on-year in January.

The dollar held steady and was set for a weekly loss after hitting a three-month high earlier in the week.

Gold was on course to post its first weekly gain in three while oil dipped after settling higher on Thursday amid heightened geopolitical tensions.

Yemen-based Houthi rebels have added submarine weapons to their arsenal as they ramp up attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

In the last 24 hours, the Iran-backed rebels launched attacks on an Israeli city, a British cargo ship, and a U.S. warship.

On the data front, Destatis is scheduled to issue Germany's GDP data for the fourth quarter later in the day.

The initial estimate showed that the largest euro area economy contracted 0.3 percent following a 0.1 percent fall a quarter ago.

Germany's ifo business confidence survey data is also due. Economists expect the business sentiment index to rise to 85.5 in February from 85.2 in the previous month.

U.S. stocks notched record highs overnight after artificial intelligence darling Nvidia reported better than expected fourth quarter results and provided upbeat revenue guidance.

In economic releases, weekly jobless claims unexpectedly fell last week while sales of previously owned homes rose in January, separate reports showed.

The Dow and the S&P 500 gained 1.2 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively to reach new record closing highs while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 3 percent to end the day just shy of its November 2021 levels.

European stocks closed higher on Thursday as investors digested the latest batch of earnings and the minutes of the ECB's January meeting showing reluctance to discuss rate cuts.

The pan European STOXX 600 advanced 0.8 percent, surpassing its previous record close on Jan. 5, 2022.

The German DAX surged 1.5 percent, France's CAC 40 added 1.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 0.3 percent.