FX.co ★ European Stocks Head for Lower Open

European equity markets were poised to open lower on Friday, mirroring declines in global markets as a renewed selloff in technology stocks gathered pace. The downturn was driven by persistent concerns over mounting capital expenditures on artificial intelligence infrastructure. Sentiment was further undermined by reports that OpenAI may delay its initial public offering until 2027.

At the same time, oil prices continued to retreat toward pre-war levels as progress in US–Iran peace efforts helped to ease inflation worries. However, expectations that the US Federal Reserve will still move to raise interest rates later this year continued to pressure equity markets.

In Europe, investors’ attention will center on Eurozone consumer inflation expectations, Italian business and consumer confidence indicators, and French jobless claims data. No major corporate earnings releases are scheduled for the day. In premarket trading, futures on the Euro Stoxx 50 and Stoxx 600 were down 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively.