With corporate news light, investors now wait for the latest U.S. payrolls data, due at 12:30 GMT, to gauge the health of the world’s largest economy - particularly after a dismal set of data this week bolstered hopes of an interest rate cut in October from the Fed.
“If we have a soft number today, that’s going to trigger another sell-off. This will be confirmation that the slowdown is real,” said David Madden, analyst at CMC Markets in London. In a turbulent week for markets roiled by weak readings on factory and services sector activity in the United States and the euro zone, as well as U.S. tariffs on European Union goods, the STOXX 600 was on course to post its worst weekly performance in about a year., also on course for their worst weekly performance in a year, took the biggest hit due to fresh Brexit worries and recession fears, while eurozone shares .STOXXE were set to post their biggest weekly decline in two months.
The basic resources index .SXPP was among the worst performing sectors on the day, losing about 0.7% as copper prices retreated on fears of slowing global demand. Heavyweight miner BHP Group Plc (