European equity markets should try to stabilize at the opening. The Eurostoxx 50 opens at 4,124.71 points with a decline of 1.54%, the CAC 40 at 6,605.89 points (-2.43%), the DAX 30 at 15.765.81 points (-1.25%), the FTSE 100 at 7,058.86 points (-1.54%), the SMI at 12,403.58 points (-1.13%), the AEX at 765.83 points (-0.73%), the BEL 20 at 4.273.26 points (-1.59%), the IBEX 35 at 8,902.20 points (-0.76%), the DJIA at 34,894.12 points (-0.19%), the Nasdaq at 14,541.79 points (+0.11%), the S&P 500 at 4,405.80 points (+0.13%) and the Nikkei 225 at 27,045.74 points (-0.90%).

On the currency front, the change from the New York close shows EUR/USD at 1.1687 up 0.07%, EUR/JPY steady at 128.21 and USD/JPY at 109.73 down 0.04%.

European equity markets are expected to have a quiet start to the session on Friday and may gain some ground later in the day, after their sharp decline the day before. At 7:40 a.m., the CAC 40 futures contract was down 12.9 points, or 0.2%, according to data from broker IG Markets. The DAX 30 contract was down 29 points, or 0.2%, and the FTSE 100 contract was up 8.2 points, or 0.1%. The New York Stock Exchange ended mixed on Thursday, remaining held back by uncertainties over the health situation and the prospect of a withdrawal of Federal Reserve (Fed) economic support measures. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) lost 0.2%, hurt by the decline in industrial stocks such as Boeing (-3.1%) and Caterpillar (-2.6%). After opening in the red, the broader S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite were each up 0.1%. Within the S&P 500, technology and consumer products stocks rose, while economically sensitive sectors such as energy, commodities and banks lost ground. Last week's announcement of a drop in U.S. jobless claims (-29,000) failed to support the trend, while the Philadelphia Fed pointed to a further slowdown in the manufacturing sector in August in its district. The Conference Board's leading indicator was up in July, according to data released Thursday. In Asia, equity markets were down sharply Friday morning. At the end of the session, the Shanghai Composite was down 1.7%, the Hang Seng Index was down 2.3% in Hong Kong and the Nikkei Index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 0.9%.

Yields on long-dated U.S. Treasuries declined Friday morning as investors became increasingly concerned about economic conditions. At 7:30 a.m., the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was down about 1 basis point to 1.237 percent.

The euro gained some ground Friday morning against the dollar but was unchanged against the yen. The greenback is almost stable against the Japanese currency. Oil prices are trying to rebound Friday morning, after falling the day before to their lowest level in three months, with contracts on a barrel of light sweet crude (WTI), listed on the Nymex, and on North Sea Brent both closing down nearly 3%. At 7:30 a.m., the October North Sea Brent contract was up 14 cents at $66.59 a barrel. The Nymex-listed October light sweet crude (WTI) contract was up 20 cents at $63.70 a barrel.