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EUROPEAN STOCKS HEAD FOR WORST WEEK SINCE MARCH (0638 GMT)
European futures are heading for their worst week of losses since March's banking turmoil.
Futures on the Eurostoxx are down 0.4% while Germany's DAX futures are falling 0.6%. FTSE futures are down 0.2%.
The STOXX 600 has already shed 2.6% this week as investors digested more interest rate hikes from central banks and the prospect of higher inflation for longer.
Investors are ramping up their bets on a UK recession after the Bank of England delivered a 50 bps hike on Thursday. Even so, British retail sales unexpectedly rose in May.
Meanwhile Japan's core consumer inflation exceeded forecasts in May and an index excluding fuel costs rose at the fastest annual pace in 42 years. The Fed's Powell said on Thursday the central bank would move interest rates at a "careful pace" from here.
Eyes will be on French smart label maker SES Imagotag, whose shares were suspended on Thursday after a shortselling report on its accounts that the company rejected. Italy's Eni , together with its Norwegian unit Var, agreed to buy private-equity backed Neptune Energy in a $4.9 billion deal.
GSK Plc will also be in the spotlight after the British pharmaceutical company said it reached a confidential settlement of a litigation in the United States over claims its heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer.
(Lucy Raitano)
FRAGILE MARKETS WAIT ON PMIS (0622 GMT)
A red tide swept over Asia-session screens on Friday as markets took a hot Japanese inflation reading and the Bank of England's super-sized rate hike as bad news for growth.
Japan's Nikkei looks set to snap a 10-week winning streak and the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index was poised for its worst week of the year, as rates and inflation look higher for longer.
The yen earned some reprieve, but it's shaky and at 143 to the dollar is firmly in intervention-watch territory.
Sterling had already failed to hold on to much of the boost from the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street's hawkish turn, as bond markets see the economic fallout from high rates being deleterious, and it slid further against a rising dollar on Friday.
The Aussie, a growth bellwether, is quickly unwinding a two-week rally and Aussie stocks are down 3% in three days.
The sour turn leaves markets in a delicate spot ahead of global purchasing managers' index surveys due through the day.
Softening is already broadly expected, but, in this sort of mood, any surprise could be taken badly, as solid numbers may only augur more hikes and higher rates. British retail sales figures are also due and expected to show contraction.
Chinese markets were closed on Friday for a holiday, but FTSE China futures were down almost 1% and an early-month rally on stimulus hopes has all but faded away, leaving investors feeling besieged by bad news.
In emerging markets, it's a long way to the weekend for the Turkish Lira which is crumbling as a 650 basis point rate hike on Thursday fell far short of market expectations and was seen as a sign of the political limits on monetary policy.
Key developments that could influence markets on Friday:
Europe, UK and U.S. PMIs
UK Retail Sales
(Tom Westbrook)
