European equity markets expected slightly lower at the open. The Eurostoxx 50 opens at 4,265.86 points (+1.16%), the CAC 40 at 7,106.15 points (+0.77%). The DAX 40 at 15,756.31 points (+1.04%), the FTSE 100 at 7,373.34 points (+0.43%), the SMI at 12,785.32 points (+0.56%), the AEX at 792.30 points (+1.31%), the BEL 20 at 4,266.97 points (+0.61%), the IBEX 35 at 8,563.70 points (+1.24%), the DJIA at 35,950 .56 points (+0.55%), the Nasdaq at 15,653.37 points (+0.85%), the S&P 500 at 4,725.79 points (+0.62%) and the Nikkei 225 at 28,782.59 points (-0.05%).

Regarding exchange rates, the change from the close in New York indicates that EUR/USD opens at 1.1333 (+0.04%), EUR/JPY at 129.69 (+0.06%) and USD/JPY at 114.45 (+0.03%).

European equities are expected to open slightly lower on Friday after their rebound in recent days, while Wall Street hit a new high overnight as concerns about the Omicron variant of the coronavirus subsided. At 7:40 am, the futures contract on the CAC 40 yielded 9 points, or 0.1%, according to data from the broker IG Markets. The contract on the FTSE 100 lost 21.8 points, or 0.3%. The Frankfurt Stock Exchange is closed on Friday due to the Christmas party. The Paris and London Stock Exchanges will close earlier.

The New York Stock Exchange rose on Thursday, propelling the S&P 500 index to a new closing high despite mixed indicators, as fears over Omicron ease. Wall Street will remain closed Friday for Christmas celebrations. This week, the Dow Jones index nibbling 0.3%, the S&P 500 advanced 1.5% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 3.6%. US household consumption also increased by 0.6% between October and November, announced the Commerce Department, an increase in line with forecasts but lower than the 1.4% growth recorded in October. In Asia, equity markets had a lackluster session. In Tokyo, the Nikkei index closed down 0.1%. The Hang Seng of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange took 0.1% at the end of the session and the Shanghai Composite lost 0.7%.

US Treasury bond yields are moving higher as economic forecasts turn more optimistic after the initial shock from the appearance of the Omicron variant and analysts focus on tapering monetary support from the Fed. The 10-year US Treasury yield rose in two of the past three weeks, gaining 0.091 percentage points this week to 1.492%.

The euro is changing little Friday morning against the dollar and the yen. The greenback is also virtually unchanged against the Japanese currency. While end-of-year portfolio shifts have largely taken place, some investors may seek riskier currencies at the expense of the yen and Swiss franc, the analyst added.

Oil prices fell Friday morning. By 7:20 a.m., the February North Sea Brent contract was down 44 cents to $76.41 a barrel. The price of Brent is penalized by the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in Europe, at a time when Chinese growth is slowing, underlines United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB).