European equity markets are expected to rise at the opening, encouraged by Wall Street. The Eurostoxx 50 opened at 4,059.05 points (+0.80%), the CAC 40 at 6,481.59 points (+0.26%), the DAX 30 at 15,514.54 points (+0.60%), the FTSE 100 at 6,968.30 points (-0.43%), the SMI at 11,977.00 points (-0.37%), the AEX  at 739.03 points (+0.72%), the BEL 20 at 4,218.70 points (+0.44%), the IBEX 35 at 8,621.80 points (+0.64%), the DJIA at 34,823.35 points (+0.07%), the Nasdaq  at 14,684.60 points (+0.36%), the S&P 500 at 4,367.48 points (+0.20%) and the Nikkei 225 at 27,548.00 points (+0.58%).

As regarding the exchange rate, the change from the close in New York indicates that EUR/USD remains unchanged at 1.1771 while EUR/JPY opens at 129.77 up 0.06% and USD/JPY gains 110.26, or 0.09%.

In corporate news, Vivendi, Fininvest and Mediaset announced thursday evening that they had finalized the global agreement they had reached in May to end their disputes, the three parties having waived "mutually all ongoing lawsuits and complaints".   Dassault Aviation also confirmed its objectives for this year on Thursday, after recording a sharp increase in its results during a first half rich in contracts and orders.  On the macroeconomic side, the provisional PMI indices for the month of July will be published at 9:15 am. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal expect the manufacturing index to fall to 58.4 from 59 in June, but services to rise to 59.8.

European equity markets are expected to open higher on Friday, in the wake of Wall Street's advance the day before. At 7:40 a.m. , the CAC 40 futures contract was up 18.5 points, or 0.3%, according to data from broker IG Markets. The DAX 30 contract gained 35.5 points, or 0.2%, and the FTSE 100 contract rose 19.7 points, or 0.3%. On Friday, investors will pay attention to manufacturing and services PMIs in Europe and the United States.

  The New York Stock Exchange ended higher on Thursday, following a volatile session as investors reacted to mixed economic indicators. The rebound in markets since Tuesday allowed U.S. indexes to erase their sharp decline on Monday, when the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus raised serious concerns about the economic recovery. However, the quarterly results and outlook presented by companies helped to reassure investors. About 20 percent of S&P 500 companies have released their results and the majority of them have exceeded analysts' forecasts, according to FactSet. In Asia, major markets are losing ground on Friday. At the end of the session, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.7% and the Hang Seng lost 1% in Hong Kong, penalized by low trading volumes. The Tokyo Stock Exchange is closed due to a public holiday in the country.

The yield on the US ten-year government bond is stable at 1.280% on Friday, while European government bond rates remain under pressure after the European Central Bank's (ECB) monetary policy decision on Thursday, The yield on the ten-year benchmark German Bund hovering around -0.423%.  The ECB's statements on Thursday are largely in line with expectations of a continued dovish stance, analysts said.

The euro is stable Friday morning against the dollar and is up slightly against the yen. The greenback is also gaining some ground against the Japanese currency. The European Central Bank (ECB) said on Thursday, at the end of its monetary policy meeting, that it planned to maintain an accommodative monetary policy for a long time in order to promote a sustainable return of inflation in the euro zone towards its new target of 2%. Its president, Christine Lagarde, said inflation in the euro zone is expected to ease next year, which has pushed the single currency down, which remains below $1.18 on Friday.

Oil contracts are down Friday morning, after experiencing a third consecutive session of increase on Thursday allowing them to reach their highest levels in more than a week. Investors are likely concerned about the rise in coronavirus cases from the Delta variant around the world and its implications for oil demand, says Margaret Yang, a strategist at DailyFX.com. The recent appreciation of the dollar could also weigh on commodity prices, she added. By 7:20 a.m. , the September Contract for North Sea Brent was down 31 cents to $73.48 a barrel. The same maturity on WTI was also down 31 cents, to $71.60 a barrel.