European stocks and U.S. equity futures were under pressure on Friday, following sharp losses for Wall Street after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated the central bank wasn’t ready to stem rising long-term bond yields.Clinging to a weekly gain of 0.8%, the Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP, -0.35% fell 0.8% to 408.24. The index slipped 0.4% on Thursday. The German DAX DAX, -0.70% and French CAC 40 PX1, -0.53% fell 1% each and the FTSE 100 UKX, +0.20% lost 0.8%. The euro EURUSD, -0.
“The markets wanted hints as to what the central bank would do if the situation worsens, and when that didn’t materialize, equities took a hit,” said Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex, in a note to clients. “That’s fed into a rough European open, confirming whatever rebounding hopes opened the week have completely disappeared.”
Economic data due later are expected to show 210,000 U.S. jobs were added last month, according to economists surveyed by Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal. In Europe, German manufacturing orders rose by a better-than-expected 1.4% in January, following a revised 2.2% drop in December. Energy companies failed to get a lift from rising crude futures CL00, +1.86%, up more than 1%. U.S. prices posted their highest finish since 2019 on Thursday, after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies said they would rollover current production cuts to end-April. Royal Dutch Shell shares RDSA, +1.89% RDS.A, +0.88% fell 0.6% and those for BP BP, +1.76% BP, +2.62% were barely higher.
What do you get when you reverse the letter of FED?