European Shares May Drift Lower At Open

(RTTNews) - European stocks are seen opening broadly lower on Friday as investors cope with heightened political uncertainty in France and await cues from the quarterly earnings season.

Resisting pressure to call snap elections, French President Emmanuel Macron is seeking sixth prime minister in under two years, hoping his next pick will manage to steer a belt-tightening budget through France's deeply fragments parliament. An announcement in this regard is expected by today evening.

The U.S. Q3 earnings season kicked off on Thursday with better-than-expected numbers from Pepsi and Delta Airlines.

Sino-U.S. tensions also remain on investors' radar after China imposed export controls on rare earths and lithium, in a move to strengthen its position ahead of a possible summit between the countries' two leaders in South Korea later in October.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration is not planning to impose tariffs on generic drugs from foreign countries, representing major scaling-back of pharma tariff plan.

In economic releases, trading later in the day may be impacted by reaction to the University of Michigan's preliminary readings on consumer sentiment and inflation expectations for October.

Asian stocks were broadly lower this morning, pressured by some profit taking in the technology sector. Seoul markets bucked the weak trend as traders returned from holidays.

The U.S. dollar headed for a strong week as the government shutdown looked set to extend into next week, delaying crucial jobs data that could affect the Federal Reserve's monetary policy.

Alternative jobs data from private firms have indicated a cooling U.S. labor market.

Media reports suggest that the Bureau of Labor Statistics is calling back some employees to produce the Consumer Price Index for September.

President Trump said Democrats are "using health care as a cudgel" and again threatened to cut programs if the shutdown doesn't end.

The Argentine peso rebounded after the U.S. finalized a $20 billion economic support program and carried out a rare intervention in currency markets to prop up the currency.

U.S. Treasurys were flat while gold was slightly lower below $4,000 an ounce after having fallen 2 percent on Thursday, the most since August.

Oil extended declines after falling more than 1 percent in the previous session amid cooling tensions in the Middle East.

Overnight, U.S. stocks ended slightly lower after a week of record-breaking gains. Caution crept in as IMF and JPMorgan Chase warned of potential market correction, and the U.S. government shutdown entered its ninth day with no end in sight.

Meanwhile, with three weeks until the Federal Reserve's next policy meeting, New York Federal Reserve President John Williams signaled he would be comfortable cutting rates again.

On the contrary, Fed Governor Michael Barr leaned heavily into the risks of inflation. Fed Chair Jerome Powell provided no new policy updates.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished marginally lower, the S&P 500 gave up 0.3 percent and the Dow shed half a percent.

European stocks fell from record levels on Thursday amid renewed concerns about the political situation in France.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 dropped 0.4 percent. The German DAX edged up marginally, while France's CAC 40 slid 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 dipped 0.4 percent.