European equity markets should try to stabilize at the opening. The Eurostoxx 50 opened 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 exchange rate side, the change from the close in New York indicates that EUR/USD is up 0.07% at 1.1687%, EUR/JPY remains stable at 128.21 and USD/JPY at 109.73   down 0.04%.

European equity markets are expected to have a quiet start to trading on Friday and could gain some ground in the day after their sharp decline the day before. At 7:40 a.m., the CAC 40 futures contract lost 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 down 8.2 points, or 0.1%. The New York Stock Exchange ended in a mixed fashion on Thursday, remaining held back by uncertainties about the health situation and the prospect of a withdrawal of measures to support the economy from the Federal Reserve (Fed). Penalized by the decline in industrial stocks such as Boeing (-3.1%) and Caterpillar (-2.6%), the Dow Jones Index (DJIA) lost 0.2%. After opening in the red, the broader S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite each rose 0.1%. Within the S&P 500, technology and FMCG stocks rose, while economically sensitive sectors such as energy, commodities and banks lost ground. The announcement of a drop in unemployment registrations last week in the United States (-29,000) did not support the trend, while the Philadelphia Fed pointed to a new slowdown in the manufacturing sector in August in its district. The Conference Board's leading indicator rose in July, according to data released Thursday. In Asia, equity markets are down sharply on Friday morning. At the end of the session, the Shanghai Composite lost 1.7%, the Hang Seng index lost 2.3% in Hong Kong and the Nikkei index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange gave up 0.9%.

Long maturity U.S. Treasury yields fell Friday morning as investors became increasingly concerned about economic conditions. At 7:30 a.m., the yield on the benchmark ten-year U.S. Treasury bond fell about 1 basis point to 1.237%.

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