European Shares Seen Up As Intel Posts Surprise Q3 Profit

(RTTNews) - European stocks are likely to open higher on Friday after semiconductor giant Intel reported third quarter earnings and revenue that topped Wall Street's estimates.

The company also provided an upbeat revenue outlook, suggesting it's making progress on a comeback attempt.

Investors also eagerly await a key U.S. CPI report later in the day, which was delayed due to the ongoing government shutdown.

The core CPI, which excludes food and fuel, is expected to have climbed 0.3 percent for a third straight month, keeping the annual core CPI at 3.1 percent.

The Federal Reserve is facing an unprecedented challenge as it prepares to announce its interest-rate decision next week with almost no economic data.

Closer home, flash purchasing managers' survey results from the euro area and the U.K. may garner some attention later in the day.

On the geopolitical front, EU leaders agreed to help support Ukraine's "financial needs" for the next two years, but a decision to use €140bn (£122bn) in Russian assets held in a Belgian clearing house was pushed back until December after concerns were raised by Belgium.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country will never bow to U.S. pressure but conceded new sanctions could cause some economic pain.

Asian markets were mostly higher as a plan for Donald Trump and Xi Jinping to meet eased nerves around a trade war.

The dollar index was steady in Asian trade but was poised for a small weekly gain against major rivals.

Gold was poised to end its nine-week winning streak after a rather volatile week. Spot gold hit a new record high of $4374 per troy ounce Monday, before experiencing its sharpest decline in over a decade.

West Texas Intermediate futures edged lower after climbing 5.6 percent to settle near $62 a barrel on Thursday, the most since the start of the Israel-Iran conflict on June 13.

Overnight, U.S. stocks ended higher after President Donald Trump announced that he would meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Oct 30.

It was also reported that a new round of negotiations aimed at resolving escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China, will take place in Malaysia on Oct. 24-27.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 0.9 percent despite mixed earnings updates from companies like Tesla and IBM Corp. The S&P 500 gained 0.6 percent and the Dow inched up 0.3 percent.

European stocks closed higher on Thursday as mostly positive earnings offset reports suggesting that the White House is considering a plan to curb an array of software-powered exports to China, from laptops to jet engines.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.4 percent. The German DAX and France's CAC 40 both edged up by 0.2 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 0.7 percent.