European equity markets should recover ahead of US employment. The Eurostoxx 50 opens at 4,108.02 points (-1.70%), the CAC 40 at 6,795.75 points (-1.25%), the DAX 40 at 15,263.11 points (-1.35% ), the FTSE 100 at 7,129.21 points (-0.55%), the SMI at 12,177.52 points (-0.73%), the AEX at 778.80 points (-1.50%), the BEL 20 at 4,158.02 points (+0.07%), IBEX 35 at 8,300.80 points (-1.80%), DJIA at 34,639.79 points (+1.82%), Nasdaq at 15,381.32 points (+0.83%), the S&P 500 at 4,577.10 points (+1.42%) and the Nikkei 225 at 28,029.57 points (+1.00%).

With regard to exchange rates, the variation compared to the close in New York indicates that the EUR/USD appears at 1.1301 (-0.02%), the EUR/JPY at 127.96 (+0.02%) and USD/JPY at 113.24 (+0.04%).

On the macroeconomic side, the index of industrial production for the month of October will appear at 8:45 am, as will the monthly statistics on the state budget situation. The services sector PMI for November will be published at 9:50 am.

European equity markets are expected to open higher on Friday, after Wall Street rose on Thursday. The Dow Jones index notably experienced its strongest increase in number of points since the beginning of November. At 7:15 a.m., the CAC 40 futures contract gained 50.1 points, or 0.7%, according to data from broker IG Markets. The DAX 40 contract rose 122 points, or 0.8%, and the FTSE 100 contract rose 42 points, or 0.6%. The New York Stock Exchange ended higher on Thursday, rebounding from its fall the day before, despite lingering uncertainties about the health impact of the Omicron variant and its implications for the economy. The indices erased their losses caused the day before by the announcement of the discovery of a first case of contamination by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in the United States, in a person returning from a trip to South Africa. In Asia, equity markets generally gained ground on Friday morning, in the wake of Wall Street. The Nikkei index closed up 1% in Tokyo, while the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's Hang Seng fell 0.2% at the end of the session. The Shanghai Composite index gained 0.9%.

Yields on US government bonds fell slightly on Friday morning, with the ten-year bond rate standing at 1.438%, down from 1.447% Thursday night. Most Treasury bond yields rose on Thursday, and the two-year yield posted its biggest one-day rise since Nov. 22 as investors valued the second confirmed case of Omicron in the U.S. and l probable impact of the new variant on the economy.

The euro was almost stable on Friday morning against the dollar and the yen, while the greenback changed little against the Japanese currency, traders awaiting the publication of employment figures in the United States for the month of November. Good employment figures could encourage investors to bet more on an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

Oil prices continued to rise on Friday morning, after OPEC+'s decision to maintain its production strategy. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies led by Russia announced Thursday an increase in their production of 400,000 barrels per day in January, as in December. Goldman Sachs sees this move as consistent with past decisions by OPEC to increase oil production in an uncertain demand environment and believes operators should view current prices as an opportunity to position themselves for a structurally bullish market. The bank notes, however, that more information on the virulence of Omicron will be needed before oil prices begin to recover. Around 7:30 a.m., the February contract on Brent from the North Sea sold for 1.22 dollars, at 70.89 dollars a barrel. The Nymex-listed light sweet crude (WTI) January contract was up $1.28 to $67.78 a barrel.