European stock markets are expected to move hesitantly at the opening on Friday, ahead of the highly anticipated speech by Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell in Jackson Hole.

The industrial gas specialist Air Liquide has signed an agreement to acquire the South Korean group DIG Airgas from Macquarie Asia-Pacific Infrastructure Fund 2 for an enterprise value of 2.85 billion euros.
At around 7:40am, the CAC 40 futures contract was stable, according to data from broker IG.

This morning, European index futures are trading around balance, in a cautious market ahead of Jerome Powell's speech earlier today.

According to data from broker IG, the DAX 40 futures contract in Frankfurt was down 0.1%, while the FTSE 100 in London was almost unchanged at around 7:40am.

For their part, the CME Group data indicates that operators last week estimated the chances of the Fed lowering interest rates at its September meeting at over 90%, but that probability had fallen to around 74% on Thursday at its meeting in September, but that probability had fallen to around 74% on Thursday.

For Joe Capurso, an economist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, don't expect Jerome Powell to give a clear signal one way or the other on Friday. It is likely that he will avoid binding his hands and wait for more data, believes Joe Capurso

On Thursday, the New York Stock Exchange closed lower after the publication of mixed economic indicators and the publication of financial results that were lower than expected by the retail giant Walmart.
The Dow Jones index fell 0.3% to 44,785.50 points, and the S&P 500 fell 0.4% to 6,370.17 points, marking its fifth straight session in the red. The Nasdaq Composite, rich in technological stocks, fell by 0.3% to 21,100.31 points.
The market reacted to the news of an unexpected contraction in manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region in August and a sharper than expected increase in unemployment claims last week in the United States. However, the PMI indices published by S&P Global highlighted an acceleration in activity in August as a result of a rebound in the manufacturing sector.
For its part, the “Conference Board” announced that it expected growth in the United States to slow down in the second half of the year.
In Asia, the Nikkei index on the Tokyo Stock Exchange dropped 0.1% on Friday at the end of trading. The Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.8%, while the Hang Seng on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange gained 0.3%.

The stock rate at two years was stable at 3.79%. The 10-year US Treasury bond rate was unchanged at 4.33% at around 7:40am.

The greenback gained 0.2% against the Japanese currency, at 148.62 yen. While the euro fell by 0.1%, to 1.1590 dollars, around 7:40am

As operators monitor the progress of the talks to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, according to Osama Al Saifi of Traze.com, oil prices are stable this morning. For him, “positive results could allow sanctions against Russia to be lifted, which would result in an increase in the supply of Russian crude on the market and a fall in prices.”

Around 7:40 a.m., the October North Sea Brent contract listed in London sold 4 cents to $67.65 per barrel. The October contract for soft light crude (WTI) listed on Nymex lost 2 cents to $63.50