European Shares Seen Slightly Lower As Focus Shifts To US Bank Earnings

(RTTNews) - European stocks are seen opening slightly lower on Friday as investors react to Chinese data and await directional cues from the U.S. earnings season.

China's exports and imports shrank at a slower pace for a second month in September, customs data showed earlier today.

Both exports and imports fell 6.2 percent from a year earlier, slower than August's 8.8 percent and 7.3 percent fall, respectively.

Meanwhile, China's consumer inflation remained flat in September, while the producer price index fell 2.5 percent from a year earlier after a 3 percent drop in August, separate data revealed.

Eurozone industrial production data for August, September consumer price data from Spain, France and Sweden, and a preliminary reading on U.S. consumer sentiment in October may attract attention as the day progresses.

The focus shifts to U.S. earnings, with financial giants Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo among the companies due to report their quarterly results before the opening bell.

Asian stocks were broadly lower, with Hong Kong and South Korean markets leading regional losses on concerns that the Federal Reserve is perhaps not yet done with monetary tightening.

Gold nudged higher and headed for its best week since March, as the dollar and U.S. Treasury yields reversed course after climbing in the U.S. trading session overnight on the back of stronger-than-expected CPI data and weak demand for a U.S. 30-year bond auction.

Oil prices were up around 1 percent after the U.S. tightened sanctions against Russian crude exports.

U.S. stocks ended lower overnight as stronger-than-expected inflation data revived Fed rate-hike worries.

Data showed annual consumer inflation rose 3.7 percent in September, slightly higher than estimates of 3.6 percent. Core CPI rose 4.1 percent year-on-year.

The Dow dropped half a percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 both fell around 0.6 percent.

European stocks gave up early gains to end mixed on Thursday after the release of U.K. GDP and U.S. CPI data.

The pan European STOXX 600 inched up 0.1 percent. The German DAX slipped 0.2 percent and France's CAC 40 shed 0.4 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 0.3 percent.