People cross the street in front of the European Central Bank headquarters building in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on June 5, 2024.
Kirill Kudryavtsev | AFP | Getty Images
LONDON – European markets rose on Friday, the last trading day of August, as investors looked ahead to key inflation data from across the region.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index hit a fresh record high on Friday, last up 0.33% at 1:43 p.m. London time. Most major regional bourses and sectors were trading in the green. Media stocks fell 0.57%, while mining stocks added 0.88% and utilities rose 0.94%.
The Stoxx 600 posted a winning day on Thursday, with technology stocks leading the gains as investors looked ahead to artificial intelligence company Nvidia's latest quarterly earnings report, released earlier in the week.
A series of key inflation data is due on Friday, in both Europe and the United States.
Euro zone inflation fell to a three-year low of 2.2% in August, preliminary data from the European statistics agency Eurostat showed on Friday. The reading was in line with expectations and down from July’s 2.6%.
In France, the French statistics office said on Friday that the European Union’s harmonized consumer price index was 2.2% in August on an annual basis, down from 2.7% in July. Preliminary data from Italy’s statistics agency showed that the harmonized consumer price index was 1.3% on an annual basis in August, down from the previous month.
This comes after German and Spanish consumer price index reports released on Thursday showed inflationary pressures easing in both countries.
In Germany, the preliminary annual reading on a consolidated EU basis fell more than expected to 2% in August, compared to expectations of 2.3% and the July reading of 2.6%. In Spain, the preliminary consolidated inflation rate was 2.4% in August, also lower than expected and down from the previous month’s reading of 2.9%.
Investors will be watching the data closely for clues on whether the European Central Bank might cut interest rates again in September.
Also on the European data front, France's final second-quarter GDP reading showed growth of 0.2%, according to the country's national statistics office, revised down from the preliminary 0.3% figure released in July.
In the United States, data showed that the personal consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, rose 0.2% in July on a monthly basis, in line with expectations. The data could help shape the central bank’s monetary policy, as many investors hope the Fed will start cutting interest rates when it meets in September.
U.S. futures were slightly higher on the data, after several days of volatile trading on Wall Street this week. Elsewhere, Asia-Pacific markets were higher on Friday.
